


Endless Summer

by rarepairqueen



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Summer Vacation, Teenage movie tropes, There will be a happy ending, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-14 05:30:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 75,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4552476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarepairqueen/pseuds/rarepairqueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riko should've known that booking team Seirin into a hotel for three weeks would only result in a lot of questionable pictures taken by Kuroko and inside jokes.<br/>Yet the romance that blossomed between the captain and his point guard was somewhat unexpected, even if it seemed like it was always meant to be.<br/>However, sometimes it's those who laugh the loudest who are hurting the most inside and they don't open up to just anybody. Or do they?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Alcohol

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a product of me wanting to spend my summer with my friends but work and lack of money stopping us actually doing anything.  
> [Edit - 25/9/15]  
> I originally had requests for this fic open (basically I took reader suggestions into account when writing each chapter) but that quickly got a bit out of hand - as you'll probably pick up on - so what I've decided is that I will be following this fic with a series of various Hyuuga/Izuki oneshots and you can request pretty much whatever you want for it (I'll let you know if I'm uncomfortable with writing certain things) by using the comment section.
> 
> To clarify (but not to spoil): the first 14 chapters or so are warning free but after that things gets angsty and I'll put individual warnings ahead of each chapter if they are required.

It was a bad idea of Riko's to book team Seirin into a beach-side hotel for three weeks during the summer vacation. In her mind it would help the team bond after their loss at inter-high and maybe build on their skills on the beach - it was just after her strict training camp anyway so they weren't exactly at a loss for things to do. What she should've considered was how much chaos the team could cause without her being there to threaten them.

And that is how they ended up drunk within two nights of being left alone.

Exactly how Kise and Aomine had been dragged into it was a mystery, there were various different excuses for ordering sake and exactly _how_ they managed to order more of it to the captain's room was forgotten within a few minutes.

"I still don't know why we let you in..." I muttered under my breath, referring to the Kaijō and Tōō aces who had crashed the party, they had shown up and despite the heavy loss to Aomine only a few weeks previously, Izuki had let the two fools in and now they refused to leave.

"You still sound salty." Aomine remarked, raising an eyebrow at me. "Can't help it if Bakagami lost our battle."

"So you came to gloat?" Kagami scoffed, the atmosphere in the small lounge of the apartment was tense but the soft music playing from the stereo was doing a good job of breaking it - that and the constant refilling of cups.

"Of course not Kagamicchi!~" Kise blurted out, he wasn't handling his drink too well and it was providing much needed entertainment to the rest of the Seirin team. The blond had been taking numerous pictures on Kuroko's cellphone as he slowly got drunker.

Once a few more drinks had been consumed there was a mischievous grin on the point guard's face, I had honestly been expecting Izuki to be cracking puns all evening but so far there had been very few, which is what made the grin on his face even more unsettling.

"I have a _great_ idea." he announced. Koga and Mitobe exchanged glances, this was actually one of the first times the entire team had been together with alcohol so no-one really knew how it was going to play out. It was also one of the first times a lot of us had even had alcohol.

"What is it?" Kiyoshi asked, he had actually refused to drink, citing that if Riko called to check on everyone then someone had to be sober enough to reassure her that nothing stupid was happening, which of course, it was anyway.

"We should totally play truth or dare." the point guard continued, raising an eyebrow at me, causing an uneasy feeling at my best friend's sudden mood change.

"Shut up Izuki." I sighed, pretending to hit him.

"I wanna play~" Kise announced, nearly dropping Kuroko's phone into Aomine's lap. "It'll be fun!"

"Fuck yeah, I'm game if Aomine is!" Kagami challenged the Tōō ace and if it's one thing we knew; it was that Aomine never backed down from a challenge.

"Done." Aomine declared, downing the rest of his drink.

~*~

"Do _what_?!" Kagami exclaimed. Izuki merely sniggered and Koga was finding it hard to translate whatever Mitobe was trying to say. "Oh hell no."

"Come on Kagamicchi~" Kise pined. "You agreed to a dare!"

The red head gritted his teeth and scowled at the empty cup in front of him. 

"Alright, where the hell is Furihata?" he asked Kuroko, the first years had left when one am rolled around, they apparently wanted to go swimming the next morning before the pool got too crowded. Unfortunately for Kagami this meant the only first year left from Seirin was Kuroko.

"You can't drag them into it." Kuroko responded. "The dare requires a first year who's playing, so that leaves me, Kise-kun or Aomine-kun."

"And I don't think Kuroko's clothes would even _fit_ you Kagami." Koga added unhelpfully. "So really it's between Kise and Aomine."

"You can switch clothes with me Kagamicchi~" Kise giggled, the ace had really had too much to drink. "I don't mind~"

Aomine was doubled over with laughter when the two aces went into the restroom, all the group could hear was a very drunk Kise and a very annoyed Kagami trying to organise themselves and the anticipation of seeing the result of this was almost killing them. Finally, after a long period of Kagami cursing in both Japanese and English, the two aces emerged, Kise leaning heavily on Kagami so he didn't fall flat on his face or on top of Tsuchida. They had indeed swapped clothes; the red head's black tank top hanging loose on Kise's shoulders, shorts barely able to cling to his toned waist, whilst the blond's white shirt hugged the other's wider shoulders and the shorts followed suit. Aomine nearly stopped breathing because he was laughing so much. Izuki and Koga were in high spirits, Tsuchida, Kiyoshi and Mitobe hid their grins behind their cups and even I had to admit that it was an amusing sight. Kuroko simply raised his phone and snapped photos that would be useful should he ever need to blackmail the Seirin ace.

"I hate you Izuki-senpai." Kagami grumbled, unceremoniously dropping Kise next to Aomine who was tearing up slightly.

"I'm so hurt!" Izuki replied, faking an over-dramatic death which resulted in him laying his head in my lap, this had happened a few times before during after-practice hangouts but it still caught me off guard. "How could you be so mean Kagami?"

"You suggested we play this stupid game so you live with the consequences, baka." I uttered, poking Izuki's forehead, I could feel myself beginning to unwind but maybe that was the sake working its way into my brain.

A few more rounds passed with a lot less drama but with another bottle of sake emptied, there was a clear change in the feeling in the room. Kiyoshi excused himself to go and check on the first years as no-one was _really_ convinced that they went straight to sleep. This left the room completely filled with drunk teenage boys which could only end badly.

"Hey Aomine, truth or dare?" Koga asked, the one who was probably the most sober now.

"...truth." he replied, opening what was either the fourth or fifth bottle, there was no-one keeping count any more.

"Do you have a crush on Momoicchi?" Kise asked immediately.

"No!" he replied, nearly spilling sake everywhere.

"Very quick denial." Izuki commented, still laying with his head in my lap.

"I do not have a crush on her!" Aomine exclaimed. "Tetsu you know that right?"

Kuroko blinked in response, not offering any assistance whatsoever. The second years just looked at each other as as the Tōō ace scowled at his former team-mate, Kise was giggling like a schoolgirl and didn't show any sign of stopping.

"Anyway!" Tsuchida declared before Kise got attacked. "Izuki."

"Dare."

There was a brief pause before Mitobe tapped Koga's shoulder and made some obscure gesture with his hands.

"Of course! Nice one Mitobe!" the cat-faced forward remarked. "Itzuki, go and take a shower with your clothes on."

"Huh?" the point guard shot them a quizzical glance before a grin spread over his face. "Alright!"

He wobbled to his feet and stumbled towards the restroom, his unsteady feet prompted both me and Tsuchida to follow him so that he didn't end up getting injured - that would be difficult to explain to Riko. _Oh yeah he was drunk and fell over in the shower, no biggy Riko_.  
I actually had to fumble with the controls as Izuki was too intoxicated and giggly now to control his hands, I felt his fingers ghost over my lower back and downwards several times.

"Izuki I swear if you touch my ass one more time then this is going to be ice rather than water." I snapped, still reasonably sober compared to the rest of our company, more embarrassed that he'd do this in front of Tsuchida than him actually doing it.

"You didn't have to come in here with me." he sniggered, gaining a glare from me.

Once the water was running I shoved my point guard under the spray of reasonably cold water. Izuki gave a small gasp at the chill but laughed regardless, Tsuchida raised an eyebrow and began to back out of the restroom so that the rest of the group could witness the dare in progress. Kuroko took full advantage of this and gathered more blackmail material that I'd have to get out of him at a later date. With a triumphant smile, I reached into the spray to turn off the shower only to be pulled in by a surprisingly strong Izuki.

"Oh, how _ice_ of you to join me captain." he remarked with a splutter. "Sure is great to be _chilling_ with you here."

"Baka!" I snapped, feeling chilled to the bone within seconds.

"Come on Junpei~" he continued in a sing-song voice much like Kise's, my chest tightened for a split second at him using my first name, it wasn't the first time but it wasn't a common occurrence. Either way, Izuki would have the mother of all hangovers at this rate and probably a mark from where I was about to slap some sense into him.

Camera flashes prompted me to hurry up and turn the shower off, I stumbled out of the cubicle and slammed the restroom door shut so I could deal with my idiotic team-mate in private.

~*~

Everyone fell asleep in the lounge, when the first rays of sunshine streaked through the haphazardly closed drapes and struck my face I was not overly amused. I was led on the wooden floor with someone's arms wrapped around my waist, I wasn't still drunk, no, this was much worse.

"Morning senpai~" Furihata's voice pierced the silence and made my head hurt.

"Furihata...what are you--"

"Looks like Izuki is rather attached to you." the bench-warmer remarked with a certain glint in his eye that unsettled me slightly. Surely enough when I glanced at who was clinging to me it was none other than my best friend.

"Baka..." I sighed. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Kiyoshi sent me up to check no-one died."

"Tch." was all I replied with. "Well are the others alive?" I asked dryly, sitting up carefully so to not disturb the hungover Izuki. My breath tasted like death had taken a crap in my mouth.

"I believe so. Kuroko was actually the first one out of the room..."

That didn't surprise me, the phantom sixth member was certainly a mystery. I sent the first year back down to wherever Kiyoshi was, telling him that everyone else will be along at some point. I then set about trying to wake up my team-mates and the party-crashers.

"Yo Izuki." I sighed, poking the younger male's head. When I was only greeted with a small whine it was clear that I had to be more forceful, or at least that was the plan. When do things _ever_ go to plan though?

"  _Junpei_ ~"

A blush crept over my face, this was not right, when Izuki was drunk hearing him whisper my first name wasn't so strange but _in his sleep_?

"Izuki...wake up."

After a bit more prodding and shoving the point guard slowly opened his eyes, hissing slightly at the sunlight before realising where he was and what he was doing.

"Hyuuga." he stated, withdrawing his arms from around my waist. "Is it me or is the room spinning?"

"You're hungover." I told him. "And you seem to have a thing about calling me by my first name."

Izuki blinked and rubbed his eyes, shrugging as he sat up. "Dunno what you're talking about." he mumbled, a small hint of red in his face. "Oh god I feel like I'm gonna vomit."

With the scrambling of limbs, he raced to the restroom. I winced as I heard the sound effects but shook my own hungover head. Whilst Izuki emptied his guts into the toilet I went around the room waking up the rest of the team. Kise and Aomine were the worst of all; the blond haired ace was breathing heavily into the couch cushions and didn't seem to be waking up any-time soon. Aomine was slightly easier to wake up with a simple glass of water being tipped onto his head.

"Hey, you were the one who barged in here anyway." I remarked as the beast awoke with a temper. "Now get Kise up and we might be able to find some breakfast."

Koga and Mitobe were lucky to not have hangovers, Tsuchida only had a lingering one and we could all hear how badly Izuki was reacting to it. Kise awoke with a hard shove from Aomine, ending up on the floor.

"Aominecchi!" he whined. "So mean..."

"Shut it Kise." he sighed.

After a long period of silence from the restroom I went to check on Izuki, the door was unlocked so I slipped in and took in the sight of my best friend sat on the floor with a face paler than usual. Crouching down, I checked for a fever.

"Baka..." I murmured when I realised the severity of the hangover. "Okay, I'll send the others down ahead of us and stay here to make sure you don't die." the last part of the remark was meant to be light-hearted but there was little to laugh at as Izuki leaned over the toilet  and vomited again.

No-one raised an eyebrow when I told them that I'd be staying behind for a bit. I made up some excuse about cleaning the bottles away before housekeeping saw them and raised an alarm which seemed to pass with most of them. However Koga made an offhand comment about the shower incident and I glared at him slightly. Once they were gone I thought back to that very incident; the way Izuki's shirt had clung to his toned torso in the freezing water, his hair dripping in front of his jet black eyes which at the time were diluted thanks to the alcohol...his small smile as he pulled me into the shower with him.

"...Hyuuga..." a small voice came from the restroom. I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to look at him, he was leaning heavily against the door frame and looked very worse for wear.

"Yes?" I murmured. "Do you want to lie down?"

He nodded feebly and let me guide him to the bedroom that had hardly been touched since we arrived. I carefully led him down on one of the futons and checked his fever again, it wasn't going down but it wasn't going up either.

"I'll get you a cold pack or something from the store." I told him. "You really had too much to drink eh?"

He tried to smile but it was very forced, I patted his head gently and stood up to rummage around for some money. Before I left I made sure he had drank some water so that he could begin flushing the rest of the alcohol out of his system. I made it down to the store without getting stopped by anyone, I could hear some of them in the restaurant and I spotted the first years out by the pool but my thoughts were preoccupied. I bought the cold packs and some light snacks that would help him recover quickly, it looked like I would make it back up to the apartment without interruption.

"Oi Hyuuga!" Kiyoshi called from down the hallway, I was literally one staircase away from getting back to Izuki and I really didn't want a lecture from the 'iron-heart' himself.

"What?" I called back.

"Where's Izuki?"

I rolled my eyes. "Sleeping." Without giving him a chance to question me further, I hurried up the stairs and flew myself into the entranceway. I sighed heavily and slipped off my shoes before heading to the bedroom.

He was still led there, his breathing ragged and sweat clinging to his forehead. I knelt down next to him and applied the cold pack, he gave me a weak smile and I half expected him to make a dumb pun but he just closed his eyes. As his low breathing filled the room I was left to my own devices. I cleared up as best I could before the knock of the housekeeping brought me out of my thoughts about Izuki in the shower.

"So he's resting and I'd appreciate it if you left the bedroom alone..." I finished explaining to the maid that Izuki had come down with a cold. She nodded sympathetically and went about cleaning the rest of the rooms, I stayed with him so that I could hide the sake bottles but also keep out of her way.

Out of pure boredom I led down on the tatami mat next to his futon and tried to think about what else the team had planned for this vacation. It was a given that we'd end up at the beach sooner or later, I knew there was some sort of festival nearby in a few days time that they'd want to visit, stargazing and a water fight were also on the cards...so much for extra training. Of course there would be some street-ball being played when everyone recovered enough from last night.

I fell asleep at some point, only waking up when a loud voice called through the door.

"Oi...Hyuuga?" It was Kagami, probably sent by Kiyoshi. "We're going out for sushi with Kise and Aomine."

I went to stand up but a an arm wrapped around my waist stopped me. Izuki was still asleep somehow and I was effectively pinned by his sleeping form. I didn't want to call out to Kagami in case I woke him up but I could only imagine the rumours and remarks that would be thrown around if I didn't set the record straight. Footsteps away from the main door signalled that Kagami had left. I huffed and mentally cursed myself for not being able to get up. A light chuckle came from beside me.

"Baka." he whispered, opening his eyes. "Imagine what they're going to say."

I nearly slapped him out of stupidity. "Why are you so clingy all of a sudden?" I asked.

"Don't know what you're talking about." he withdrew his arm - for the second time today - and shrugged.

I was getting annoyed with his childish antics. Either way we were now stuck with each other for the entire evening...again. Only this time there was going to be no alcohol and very little else to do. It was just like middle-school in a weird way before Kiyoshi and the others set up the basketball club in freshman year of high-school, where it was just me and Izuki on an evening doing homework and messing around.

Except this time we had other people around us, and the events of last night hadn't fully escaped our minds.

"Did I really call you Junpei?" He laughed as we ate the snacks I bought earlier on the balcony overlooking the pool.

"Y-Yeah." I replied, getting slightly caught up on my own words. He glanced at me with a warm expression before poking my sides in a playful manner.

"Aw did someone get flustered?" he joked, not quite realising how awkward I had felt at the time. The image of him in the shower came back to me and I had to look away from him before he noticed the embarrassment.

"N-No. It just caught me unaware."

"The point guard caught you _off_ guard." he smirked.

"Fuck sake Izuki!" I exclaimed, unable to prevent the laughter escaping me. As much as his puns annoyed me a lot, they were somewhat amusing.

We watched the sun set, just the two of us, best friends and members of a team that would one day be the best in Japan. The rest of our team out god knows where eating sushi and a number of days still left to enjoy with each other. I couldn't ask for a better vacation to be honest although I had a feeling I'd want to eat those words at some point this trip.

 


	2. The Beach

I refused to admit that the prospect of going to the beach was much more appealing than drinking. Aomine would've had my head if he knew. Then again since when was I trying to impress a rival team's ace player? Since when was I trying to impress anyone at all?

"Senpai~" Kise whined. I didn't know why he kept calling me senpai but it was really beginning to irritate me. I wondered how Kasamatsu put up with it and then I remembered that he kicked Kise a lot during practice _and_ official games.

"What Kise?" I replied. We had barely set off for the beach when the Kaijō ace had begun whining about something or other.

"How far away is the beach?"

"I don't know, ask Kiyoshi."

"Kiyoshi-senpai~"

Izuki chuckled from beside me, I rolled my eyes and elbowed him in the ribs slightly. Koga just outright laughed at my reaction to Kise, Kagami made an offhand comment about the Generation of Miracles complaining about anything and everything. To which Kuroko pointed out how alike Kagami and Aomine were...and that set off a completely different argument. At some point during the walk  Kise challenged Kagami to a foot race which of course Aomine _had_ to join in with. They got far enough away for the rest of us to not actually hear them, Furihata murmured something about Kuroko not being with us, sure enough the blue haired phantom appeared next to Kise and scared the three of them half to death.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Izuki remarked to Kagami once we caught up, gaining a glare and Kise actually _laughed_. That was unheard of. Once the three prodigies - aka idiots - had recovered, we continued on our way to the beach.

The white sand stretched on for miles, it was relatively quiet for such a sunny day, Kawahara and Fukuda - being first years - got dumped with the task of setting out the towels and blankets whilst the rest of the group made a race for the ocean.

"Senpai?" Fukuda asked as I watched our team-mates catapult themselves into the water.

"Hm?"

"We heard some...interesting things about you last night." he replied. "You and Izuki-senpai."

I could feel the blush creeping up my neck. "Oh really..."

"You've been friends since middle school right?" Kawahara added.

"Yes...we kind of formed the basketball team." I was beginning to wonder what they were going to imply was going on. "Obviously Kiyoshi had more to do with it than me."

"You two just seem really close." Fukuda finalised. "And we just wondered if there was something going on."

I wanted to hit them both with a kendo stick. "No. Nothing is going on between Izuki and I." I stated. Had it really been that obvious? Surely not, we weren't _that_ affectionate. Besides, there really was nothing going on aside from him getting drunk and calling me Junpei. And the whole shower incident. But that was down to the alcohol. So there was _no_ way that counted as a thing...

They both seemed to track my uncertainty and seemed to be about to question it when Koga appeared out of nowhere and jumped on my back, still wet from the ocean.

"Captain!" He called. "Come join us!"

I shrugged him off my back and scowled slightly before bursting into laughter. I couldn't be mad at Koga. After a few minutes of making sure everything was set up I took off my shirt and followed the other second year towards the group of rowdy teens. We spent a long time in the shallow water, each of us playfully dunking each other and someone had bought a volleyball which proved entertaining for a while. It was really just a fun and relaxing time, heck I was even starting to like having Kise and Aomine around, they added some extra hilarity, it was definitely a much-needed break.

"Oi Mitobe, let me get on your shoulders!" Koga demanded. "Izuki get on Hyuuga's and we'll try and knock each other off!"

I didn't actually _agree_ to this but I let it happen, I wanted to relax more and be less of the captain and more of the best friend. What made matters somewhat worse was Kise demanding that Aomine let him join in too. In the end Kise, Izuki and Koga were all trying to shove each other back into the water. In a weird way this could count as some sort of training, it wasn't that much different to what we had been doing with Riko, however the downside to this was that I had to focus not only on staying upright but _not_ focus on the fact my head was between Izuki's legs.

"I swear if you drop me I'm going to annoy you all night." Izuki remarked as I nearly lost my balance. If that didn't sound suggestive then I didn't know what did and I could almost read Mitobe's expression as something like 'we know something you don't.'.

"I'm not going to drop you." I told him as Aomine nudged me slightly, a grin on his face telling me that he too had heard the suggestive comment.

Koga was the first to fall, Kise held his arms up in triumph before Izuki tried to catch him off guard. I ended up nearly getting tripped up by Aomine several times, for a split second I thought I'd lose my footing but whatever power the eagle eye gave Izuki seemed to work in toppling the two aces backwards.

"Aominecchi!" Kise spluttered as he stood up again in the water. "Why did you fall?"

I was about to ask Izuki how the hell he was going to get down when my legs were taken out from under me unceremoniously. Thankfully I had left my glasses back with Fukuda and I could see well enough without them to know that our own ace had been behind our downfall.

"Kagami!" Izuki exclaimed. "Why did you have to ruin our success?"

The red head was too busy laughing to even care. I placed an arm around Izuki's shoulders and sighed. Kuroko had apparently been snapping pictures this entire time and had caught our fall from grace. Furihata announced that if we wanted food then we'd have to decide on what we wanted before him and Kiyoshi disappeared off to get it. Overwhelming majority chose watermelon, it would be reasonably simple and cheap to get. Whilst we waited for it to be retrieved we took to lying around in the sun and attempting to build a better sandcastle than Kuroko.

I led down partly under the parasol, the lack of sleep from last night was catching up with me in the heat of the day. I expected to be left in peace but apparently Kagami had other ideas.

"Hey captain." he remarked, sitting next to me in the shade. "Can I ask you something?" his voice dropped an octave lower which instantly alerted me to what was about to be asked.

"If it's about last night, I don't wanna hear it." I dead-panned.

"Nah it's not that. Although now that you mention it--"

"Kagami I _will_ shove sand down your trunks if you bring it up." I threatened light-heartedly.

He smirked. "Anyway, I have a proposition."

"I'm listening."

"To prank Aomine."

"Continue."

"Do you know of the pocky game?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Yes...why."

"We should get him to play it."

I rolled my eyes. "And how exactly are we gonna do that? I don't think he's dumb enough."

"But Kise is."

"This isn't going to backfire _at all_." I sighed, wondering why on earth I was agreeing to help him do this.

"Of course not." he smirked.

~*~

Late afternoon, we had just finished eating the watermelon when Kagami made up some stupid excuse to drag Kuroko back to the hotel. We had agreed that we'd hold another 'gathering' in mine and Izuki's room for our so called prank on Aomine but this time there'd be no alcohol and significantly less drama. I just had to keep everyone else occupied whilst Kagami searched for the god damn pocky.

"Say, we should have a bonfire at some point." Kiyoshi remarked, I was sat with him and Tsuchida as we watched the others playing volleyball on the beach without a net.

"Sounds like a plan, stargaze afterwards?" Tsuchida replied.

I liked the idea, nothing could possibly go wrong with our team and a bonfire. I gave it my approval and we set about trying to figure out when we could do it. Just as the sun was beginning to dip towards the horizon I received a text from Kagami, the pocky a had been found and he was waiting for us back at the hotel. It took a few minutes to summon the group together and get ourselves packed up, but we were back at the hotel before the sun completely disappeared.

"So what's tonight's entertainment?" Izuki asked, I hadn't told anyone about the arrangement I had with Kagami so hopefully everyone would be in the dark.

"Kagami organised it." I told them all as I opened the door to our room with Izuki's key. Sure enough Kuroko and Kagami had rearranged the lounge so that a large section of floor was exposed.

"Oh god." Aomine sighed.

We sat down and I tried to remain as surprised as the rest of them. When Kuroko produced the stack of pocky boxes there was a slight pause before Kise immediately started being...well...Kise.

"Kurokocchi bought us all pocky?!~" he seemed legitimately excited.

"Actually I did but whatever." Kagami half sighed, tossing a box to Kise. "You're all familiar with the pocky game right?"

The colour seemed to drain from Aomine's face. The rest of our company seemed a bit more enthusiastic but still slightly reluctant.

"But...we're all guys?" Furihata questioned.

"So? Means everyone will be determined to win." Kagami seemed to care very little about the technicalities of this 'game'. I had to admit that I had failed to properly process what he meant, I assumed he was gonna get Kise and Aomine play not _all_ of us.

Izuki caught the second box thrown out, Koga and Kawahara also catching boxes. It suddenly dawned on everyone what we'd have to do. The nervous laughter would've been actually audible if the stereo hadn't been turned on by a certain blue-haired phantom who was suspiciously not holding a box.

"Why...why are we doing this?" Kiyoshi asked, he actually seemed flustered by the idea of participating.

"Because we're dumb teenagers. Plus imagine Riko's face if we tell her about it."  I remarked, knowing that mentioning our coach would redirect his attention. "She'll demand details, she's a typical girl after all."

"Don't even get me started on Satsuki." Aomine sighed. "She's terrible for it."

"And all of this idiot's fangirls." Kagami added, gesturing to Kise. "So it's just harmless fun and it'll give us something to hold over our coaches."

It seemed to - somehow - put everyone at ease. I turned to Izuki to find him already holding one end of the pocky stick in his mouth and almost lost all my nerve right then and there. He simply raised an eyebrow at me which didn't help. Kise was making a lot of noise trying to convince Aomine to 'do it right ' and no-one could really keep a straight face at this point.

"Something wrong Hyuuga?" Izuki murmured quietly as he shifted closer to me, still holding the pocky in his mouth.

"N-No." I uttered, shifting so I could lean in and take the other end of the stick. Something about this situation seemed very weird but in a way I wasn't exactly reluctant to do it.

After a few seconds of neither of us moving he reached up and cupped my face, moving forward and forcing me to take the stick between my lips. We had known each other a long time and there had been a few near misses in that time but none of them were quite as...built up as this. He raised his eyebrow again and smirked slightly. I wanted to tell myself that I was just overreacting but there was something very amiss here and either I was too dumb to see it or I had gotten sunstroke today without realising it.

"Aominecchi!" Kise whined. Sounded like the Tōō ace was being difficult but that was the least of my problems.

"Are we stuck in a stalemate or something?" Izuki asked, another raise of the eyebrow.

"Maybe." I uttered, daring to make the first move forward. "Maybe not."

"Cause I wouldn't want the pocky to go stale." There was a glint in his eye as he took a bite too. Neither of us was really willing to get closer but if we were the last ones to do it then everyone would be watching. I could almost imagine Kuroko with the wretched camera now.

"You make it seem like you don't wanna kiss me." he remarked around the stick. I knew he was joking but something about the way he said it sent a shiver down my spine.

"I never said that." I replied before I could think about it. His eyes widened slightly before he took another bite, edging slightly closer. That eagle eye of his was probably working overtime right now trying to read my actions despite the fact there were very few to choose from.

With so little of the stick left between us only one more bite would put us in a very close position. If I hurried up about it then I could get it done and over with without anyone noticing...however.

"Cat got your tongue?" he uttered. "Or do you suddenly not like pocky?"

The blush that had spread across my face was probably beet red, he wasn't exactly pale as snow himself but it was somewhat adorable.

"...no." I whispered before taking the final bite. The faintest brush of lips happened, his were soft and still vaguely smelt of watermelon. His eyes stared into mine, wide and somewhat disbelieving but that glint was still there.

"Captain?" Kuroko's voice punctured the silence between Izuki and I. We both backed up in a flash and tried to pretend that nothing weird had happened. Kagami looked as triumphant as Aomine looked annoyed. Kise was beaming and now munching through the rest of his pocky, much like the rest of the team who were all slightly bewildered but no-one seemed emotionally scarred.

"Yes Kuroko?" I replied, trying to not look directly at anyone for more than two seconds.

"We need pizza."

I sighed heavily. Kiyoshi smiled warmly at me and volunteered to call whilst I found some plates, the atmosphere in the room returned to normal...with the exception of one person who seemed a little bit off.

"Something wrong?" I asked Izuki.

"No." he murmured, it was a lie but I wasn't going to pressure him into anything whilst we still had company. With the lack of sleep from the night before, most of the team were exhausted so once the pizza had been eaten a lot of them cleared off to their own rooms. Kagami stayed behind to help clear up which was when he asked the question I had anticipated earlier that day.

"You and Izuki-senpai?" he mused. The point guard was taking a shower so it was safe to discuss such things for the next few minutes.

"No." I replied flatly. "We're not."

"Seems like you both enjoyed that game though." he smirked, stacking plates onto the small table in the centre of the lounge.

"It was...interesting." I stated, trying not to dwell on the matter and also trying to get him the hell out of our room so I could actually ask Izuki what he was thinking.

"Heh. Well let me know if you need my help." He patted my shoulder and saw himself out of the room, leaving me stood in the entranceway pondering what the hell he meant.

I took to standing on the balcony whilst waiting for Izuki to finish showering, he wouldn't go straight into the bedroom, not if he had something on his mind. The reflection of the pool lights danced on the walls of the hotel and made me feel a little calmer about the entire situation.

So we had _nearly_ kissed again. No biggy. It had happened a few times between practices when our defence had gotten tight, heck even just in our own rooms we'd had a few close calls. Something about this time though....something was different. The glint in his eyes was the difference. In the past he had laughed it off or gone all over dramatic about it, this time he just sat there bewildered as I had done.

"Hyuuga?" his soft voice called from the door. I turned around and found him just wearing shorts and towel drying his hair.

"Sup?" I asked, carefully watching his body language, trying not to stare at his chest.

"Nothing much, just good to have a shower and unwind y'know." he smiled, moving next to me on the balcony. I hadn't really taken in how toned his torso was, during our times in the changing rooms I tended to worry more about my own body rather than examining my team-mates, that was Riko's job anyway.

"I guess. It's been a good day though."

"Mmhmm." he sighed in agreement, slipping the towel off his head and throwing it into the room. He then turned to look at me fully, leaning on the balcony wall as I willed myself to stare at the pool beneath us.

"So..." he uttered. "You never said you didn't want to kiss me..."

I bit my tongue. He was going through the motions, truth be told I wasn't sure what I wanted. I had only just begun to notice the little things about him that make the fangirls swoon, however few of them there were. I couldn't be sure.

"This is true." I murmured.

"But you never said you did." there was a drop in his tone, almost like sadness and it caused me to look at him. His smile was genuine but he was hiding something.

"If you're about to confess to me--"

"No! No I'm not." he cut me off. "However, you're my best friend Hyuuga, I don't want us to be confused about our feelings."

It reassured me that he may be just as confused as me. "...I'm still coming to terms with Riko not really being interested...and..."

"Say no more." he put his hands up in surrender and moved to retreat inside. I caught his wrist gently and pulled him closer to me, he was slightly surprised but didn't say anything.

"Let me finish my god damn sentence for once will you?" I sighed, looking at him with a softer gaze.

He smiled slightly.

"I was saying, I don't want to cause tension...you're my best friend and I don't want to fuck this up."

His smile grew, he leaned closer and lightly pressed his lips to my cheek. I wasn't sure how to respond except to return the favour. Short and sweet.

"We'll figure it out." he murmured, backing away slowly, studying my expression as he did. "We don't need all the answers right now. Let's just focus on having fun with our friends."

I nodded, following him as he made his way inside. I wondered if Kagami was serious about offering his help after all...


	3. The Pool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly shorter update but that's mainly due to the next chapter being a lot longer...yeah you'll see why.  
> Thank-you so much for the kudos so far, it means a lot :3

"Race you to the pool!" Furihata shouted as he sprinted past us.

Today was pool day so everyone had met up outside our room. Although Kise, Aomine and Kagami seemed to be set on a street ball game, so with little more than a wave the rest of us ventured downstairs to the outdoor pool. It was an average sized pool but there was enough space for pool-side antics to occur. I opted for sunbathing though, watching Koga and Mitobe starting a game of pool-volleyball with the first years. Kuroko and Tsuchida sat to my left with Izuki and Kiyoshi to my right, it was a peaceful time whilst it lasted.

"Heads up Hyuuga!" Fukuda called, my reflexes weren't quick enough though and the ball hit my chest with a thud, sucking all air out of me. Laughter erupted once I waved off the pain and threw the ball back, half-heartedly aiming for Koga's face.

"You need someone to look at it?" Kiyoshi asked, gesturing to the mark on my stomach. My eyes flickered to Izuki's before shaking my head.

They continued to toss the ball back and forth, the day was passing quite slowly but it wasn't an issue. I actually fell asleep for a while and only woke up when something cold was pressed against my neck. I awoke with a startle to find Izuki grinning at me and holding a bottle of water.

"Rise and shine." he remarked, handing it to me. "Wanna go swimming in a bit?"

I nodded, opening the bottle and taking a long drink. "I'll race you."

He smiled before calling out to Kiyoshi. "Yo, Hyuuga wants a swimming race!"

I nearly kicked him into the pool but resisted, I'd get my revenge later. "Sounds like fun!" the Centre replied with a wave. So that was it, a few minutes later we were about to dive into the pool and race, The rest of the team sat to the side and cheered us on, no clear favouritism being voiced. Tsuchida voiced for us to get ready, blowing a whistle to signal for us to go. I sprang forward and was engulfed by the cool water, I didn't doubt that the other two wouldn't take this seriously so I kicked rapidly and started swimming as fast as I could. Hitting the wall just a split second after Izuki, we sprang back and it was neck and neck heading into the final length. I was aware that Kiyoshi would probably use his right of postponement or whatever it was to pull victory out of nowhere but that didn't stop me from giving it my all. Kuroko was crouched at the other end to see who touched the wall first, the others were shouting and cheering as we closed the gap.

"Hah!" Izuki called as we caught our breath back. "So how are you gonna forfeit your captaincy?" he asked me. I glared at him slightly, he won by a hand's length and Kiyoshi was barely a second behind me.

"I'm not forfeiting anything!" I exclaimed, splashing water into his face. "You'll have to take it from me."

He disappeared underwater and took my legs out from underneath me. I instinctively grabbed onto his shoulders as we surfaced, both spluttering but laughing. It carried on like that for a while, the others joining as we continued splashing and dunking each other. Caught up in the moment, I found myself pinned to the pool wall by my point guard, time seemed to slow slightly as he too realised the position we were in.

"You sure you don't wanna forfeit anything?" he whispered, face brushing ever-so-slightly against mine, he would blame the water for pushing him closer if anyone asked.

My words caught in my throat. I coughed loudly and raised an eyebrow. "No."

"No you're not or no you don't?" he asked, backing up slowly, I knew someone was watching us. The smile on his face wasn't helping me answer properly either. I playfully shoved him back further, dunking his head underwater as I did so. I could avoid that topic for now.

We were then distracted by the volleyball being thrown into the pool, I took that moment to grab him from behind and caught him by surprise.

"Hyuuga--" he uttered before falling silent against my chest. I had wrapped my arms around him and the blush spreading across his face was rather adorable to say the least. Within seconds I released him, far too amused at him trying to regain what little composure he had.

I caught Kiyoshi and Koga giving us a slightly bewildered looks, the entire situation was bizarre and it was only made slightly worse by Kagami and the other two aces returning from their street ball session, finding Izuki still blushing and me trying to seem unsuspicious whilst also fighting the pink flush of my cheeks.

"Is the Seirin captain _blushing_?" Kise asked, a certain air to his voice that I didn't feel comfortable with.

"Hyuuga!" Kagami greeted with a wave.

"Senpai was just demonstrating how he wasn't going to forfeit anything." Kuroko's voice came from the poolside behind me.

"Kuroko shut up." I muttered under my breath.

"Yo, Kise do you wanna play volleyball in the pool?" Furihata asked the blond, diverting the attention of everyone away from me.

"Sure!" He replied. Aomine sighed and muttered something about joining in too. Kagami, not wanting to be out played by his rival, agreed to do the same. It quickly became a match between the three aces and the rest of the team. I took this chance to bail out of the pool and try to figure out just what the hell was going on between Izuki and I.

"Senpai?" Kuroko asked from nowhere.

"What is it?" I replied.

"Did I say something I shouldn't have?"

I sighed. "No you didn't."

"You're okay Kuroko." Izuki cheerfully added, coming up behind the first year and patting him. "Why don't you go swimming?"

Kuroko wasn't stupid, well not often. He knew there was something amiss but he wasn't going to say it. No he'd tell Kagami and then _that_ idiot would say something. Just like last night. The blue-haired phantom nodded and left us to our own devices, we simply regarded each other with friendly smiles before Izuki stepped forward and, with that grin from before, whispered;

"I'll get you for that, captain."

It sent a small shiver down my spine, not knowing what he meant was the worst part.

**~*~**

The rest of the day went by without much incident; Aomine nearly drowned Kagami for losing in volleyball, Kuroko seemed to be everywhere at once with his damn camera, the first years were quickly becoming very good friends with the second years and so far Izuki hadn't gotten his revenge. We ate as a group in the local Maji burger that evening, everyone was in high spirits and conversation turned to what we were gonna do the next day.

"We could go shopping? I know my girlfriend will kill me if I don't get her something." Tsuchida mused, gaining a slight chuckle from Koga.

"You can." Kagami replied. "I'd prefer to play more street ball."

"Do you do anything except play basketball?" Kise dryly asked, waving a fry at Kagami. "We should do something fun!"

"Like what?" I asked the ace.

"Seashell collecting!" he exclaimed after a few moments. Aomine rolled his eyes but there was something in his expression that said he wasn't totally against the idea.

"That actually sounds fun!" Furihata added, the rest of the team seemed on board with the idea.

"It won't take up a full day though..." Kiyoshi remarked. "So what else could we do?"

"We should totally have a water fight..." Koga suggested. "But we'd need to buy balloons..."

"That's easily done." Kiyoshi murmured.

"And then we can build a blanket fort in our room!" Izuki exclaimed.

"Yes we-- wait what?!" I asked.

"Sounds good to me~" Kise finalised before I could properly object. I was going to take a page from Kasamatsu's book and slap Izuki the second we got back.

With everyone so excited about the day ahead of us, there was little to do but take an early night so we could meet up before lunch and begin the packed schedule. I closed the door behind me and locked it, Izuki leaned against the restroom door with a mischievous smile. He knew exactly what I thought of his suggestion.

"Baka!" I breathed, a smile appearing on my own face. "That's your revenge?"

"Oh no, not yet _Junpei_." he replied. "After all, revenge is a dish best served cold."

"You enjoyed it today, don't tell me you didn't." I slyly remarked as I made my way to the balcony, his face tinted pink at my comment as he followed me.

"And you totally didn't like being pinned to the wall, _captain_." he whispered in my ear from behind me. He was getting bolder in his actions, I was too but it still didn't make the feelings any easier to understand.

I felt his arms wrap around me, holding me loosely, his lips pressing against my cheek again caused me to blush heavily as I stared at the pool below. Before I knew what I was doing I had pinned him against the balcony door, staring into his widened eyes, his lips quivered slightly as we stood there. I lost my confidence.

Could it be that I still only see him as a best friend?

What would change that?

He smiled slightly, reaching up and running a hand through my hair. "You're still confused aren't you?" he asked quietly.

"A little." I uttered.

He nodded, blush still apparent on his face. "Well take your time. I'm not going anywhere Hyuuga."

I smiled back, saying those kinds of things weren't helping. I didn't want to jeopardize our friendship but when I looked at his lips I could only wonder what they felt like.

"Tomorrow..." I found myself saying. "I'll have it figured out by tomorrow."

"It's okay if you need longer."

"No. Tomorrow. Here on this balcony." I stated, backing off so he could move. "I'll have it all figured out."

He smiled. "Alright, I'll hold you to it."

 


	4. The Fort

 

It wasn't as sunny the next day, it was very hot though, the sweat was unbearable but at least there was a slight ocean breeze. We walked up the beach past where we had been a few days ago and began the search for seashells. The air was cool and there was plenty to laugh about, from Fukuda getting startled by a crab and jumping into Koga's arms to Kise leap-frogging over Aomine and then crashing into Kiyoshi.  Kuroko tapped my arm and proceeded to give me a rather large conch which I just stared at wondering how the hell he found this before any of the others. What we were supposed to do with these shells was still to be decided, I guessed Kise would keep most of them for whatever reason. When we eventually reached the end of the beach and spotted the lighthouse it was only a matter of time before we ended up sat in its shadow watching the clouds pass overhead.

"Say, where are we gonna have this water fight?" Koga asked, it was a valid question as the hotel sure as hell wouldn't appreciate us throwing water everywhere.

"The beach?" Aomine replied. "Seems the most logical place."

"That's no fun!" Kise whined from beside him.

"What about the street-ball court we played at?" Kagami sighed, sitting up and looking at Kiyoshi and I as if we had any power over this group.

"If it's within walking distance and has a place to fill up the balloons then I don't see why not." I uttered.

It was decided that we'd store the shells away and then make our way to the court. As we took a slow pace back to the hotel I watched the team interact with each other from the safety of the back of the group. It was amusing to see Koga and Tsuchida egging on the first years to try and translate Mitobe's hand gestures whilst Kise kept pretending to hit on Furihata, infuriating Aomine slightly to the point where he'd slap Kagami's shoulder just to provoke an argument.

"Makes you feel old doesn't it?" Kiyoshi murmured to me.

"No!" I exclaimed. "We're only a year older than them. You can feel old if you really want to."

As we got closer to the hotel I could sense the day was going to get warmer with the feeling of sweat still pooling between my shoulders, a cold shower would be in order later-- oh wait no apparently we were making blanket forts... _damn Izuki_ He smiled as we waited for the others down by the front entrance to the hotel. I couldn't be mad at him, he was just having fun. Or was this his revenge?

"Hyuuga?" he asked, he was in a cheery mood.

"What?"

"You mad at me for having everyone in our room again?"

"I just don't see why we have to be the ones to host." I sighed, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, he was sweating a little in the heat too but it wasn't as bad as after a game.

"Hyuuga the host?" he suggested.

"Baka."

He laughed. "Well, you're our captain."

"So?"

"As our leader, you must face the music even if you hate the tune."

I was silent for a few seconds. "That was a shit one."

"I know~" he tried to strike the stereotypical 'kawaii' pose. It looked weird on him but it also looked slightly cute.

Thankfully the others started to arrive, I quickly withdrew my arm from around him to avoid even more suspicions. Then again knowing our team they'd already placed a number of bets on it all. With a quick stop at a store we were filling up balloons from a water fountain and the buckets we'd also bought were soon overflowing with balloons.

"So are we gonna have two teams or is it a free-for-all?" Kise asked, leaning on Kuroko's head.

"Free-for-all obviously baka." Aomine sighed, picking up a blue balloon to burst. "And you're my first target."

He smirked as he launched it at Kise, the blond thought quickly and picked up Kuroko who took the balloon straight to the face. It was the start of Aomine's downfall.

"Oi, pick on someone your own size!" Kagami shouted, catching the Tōō ace on the side of the head.

"Yeah Aominecchi! So mean to Kurokocchi!" Kise added, dropping his former team-mate and rushing to arm himself.

"Baka! Kise you bastard!" Aomine shouted.

The rest of the team quickly got into the swing of things. Koga showed off his tennis skills by serving quickly, drenching Tsuchida and Fukuda, Mitobe and Furihata both hit Kiyoshi within a few seconds of each other.

"Yo Hyuuga, _water_ you waiting for?" Izuki remarked to me as he pressed the cold balloon to the back of my neck.

"I'm going to kill you one day." I hissed, slapping his face with the balloon I had in my hand. He made a sound of surprise which turned into laughter, he threw one at me and it caught my shoulder.

It went on like that, Aomine and Kagami trying to get Kise as drenched as possible whilst team Seirin all turned against each other for nearly two hours. When the balloons had run out Furihata filled one of the buckets up and tipped it over Kagami when he wasn't paying attention. That sent the game to a whole new level.

"Way to go Furihata!" Kawahara shouted as our team ace shook the water from his hair.

Aomine was too busy emptying another bucket over Kise's head to care. I knew exactly why Kuroko wasn't in the middle of this, he was taking more pictures. I was somewhat convinced that he had been told by coach to take as many photos of us as possible for one reason or another. Izuki had escaped my field of vision as I was watching Kiyoshi get drenched by Koga. I heard the footsteps but failed to notice how close they were before water was unceremoniously dumped over my head, I let out a shriek at the cold water hitting my back. Laughter from behind me from my best friend should've been all I needed to hear. I still turned around to find him doubled over with laughter, bucket resting at his feet, hair drenched and shirt sticking to him where half of the water had spilt onto him.

"You're an asshole." I told him, poking his forehead as I laughed at him.

He sighed and smiled at me, we eventually managed to persuade Aomine that he _had_ beaten Kise and that tipping even more water on to the blond was only going to make him catch a cold. With the sun beginning to set I took charge and ordered everyone to go back to the hotel and shower before even thinking about stepping into our room. I was looking forward to being able to change more than anything else. The walk back was composed of Kise complaining about being overly wet, Kagami still lecturing Aomine on hitting Kuroko in the face with a balloon and the rest of the team simply listening to the three aces argue back and forth.

~*~

"You want to shower first?" I asked Izuki.

"Nah, go ahead. I'll start finding blankets and pillows." he remarked.

I nodded, collecting a towel before heading into the restroom. Despite it being refreshing to have water dumped on me it was nice to be able to clean the sand off me where the water fight had failed to do so. It wasn't too hot or too cold, it was relaxing. Not wanting to cause Izuki to have less time, I got out and wrapped a towel around my waist.

"Yo Izuki." I called out the door. No response. I sighed and walked out into the lounge, the couches had been moved and a pile of folded blankets sat on one of them, the balcony door was open but he wasn't out there. I checked the bedroom and that was empty too, I was getting reasonably concerned.

"Izuki?"

A small giggle from the closet tipped me off. I opened the door to find him crouched on the floor like a child, he giggled again and stood up.

"You found me!" he exclaimed. I started thinking that the sun got to his head.

"Why were you in there in the first place?"

"I was bored."

I gave him an unimpressed look and smiled slightly, shaking my head as I did so. "Well the shower is all yours. Hurry up or the others will get here before you're done."

He nodded, eyes flicking over my chest for a brief second before making his way to the restroom. I sighed, setting about getting dressed into something loose and comfortable before finding the rest of the pillows. With the drone of the shower still present I elected to chill on the balcony for a while.

I thought back over the last few days, the interactions between Izuki and I, how they had taken a different form to that of the usual antics. Our middle school and early high-school days had been ordinary, the same old best friend interactions...so why had they changed?

More accurately put, _when_ had they changed? Was it a side effect of going against the Generation of Miracles? Did they force us to become closer than before in our battle to be the best in Japan? How long had he been feeling like this? Was one drunken night all it took for him to put aside his fear of rejection?

I couldn't say that I didn't feel different about him though, maybe the alcohol had opened my eyes enough to realise that there was more than one reason that he and I had remained close friends for so long. Sure his puns annoyed me to no end but his cool head during games, fun-loving nature and adorable flustered expression was far from annoying. Maybe it was the insane amount of trust we had in each other as a result of all the basketball...

Or maybe we actually did love each other.

The shower had stopped, my eyes remained fixed on the pool below as I heard the door to the restroom open. I knew he'd come out here, I knew because I told him that I'd answer him out here.

"Hyuuga?" he asked, quietly, so very quietly. He was nervous, the eagle eye wouldn't help him now.

"Y-Yes?" I replied, turning to see him stood there, fully clothed but hair still damp from the shower.

"I reckon we have a few minutes before the others show up." he mused, his voice still quiet.

He wanted to ask. I wanted to answer. We stood there, frozen in our nervousness and the cool air of the evening, the distant roar of the ocean was the only sound I could hear over my heart thudding in my chest.

"You're still an asshole." I sighed. "Regarding the bucket."

He smiled, a small laugh escaping his lips as he shook his head and stepped closer. "You started it."

"How?" I asked.

"You caught me off guard in the pool." he replied.

"Aw, the point guard got caught off guard?"

He playfully shoved me. "I already made that pun!" he complained, pretending to be all heartbroken. He was such a dramatic person when we were alone, always had been and always would be.

"Still, don't see why that meant you should tip a bucket of water over me!" I exclaimed, playing along with his act. "And cold water at that!"

"Told you revenge is best served cold." he smirked.

We fell silent again, I wasn't sure how we were meant to even broach the subject. I couldn't exactly just blurt out that I had somewhat romantic feelings for him after all these years. Well I _could_ but that was going to be hideously awkward.

Not that the silence was any less awkward.

I was aware that the minutes were ticking by, every second I spent arguing with myself meant that the others were closer to knocking on the door and ruining the moment. He leaned on the railing, taking in the green ripples that were reflecting on the hotel wall from the pool. In that moment I would've given anything to have Kuroko's camera to capture the peaceful look on his face that I seldom saw.

"Izuki..." I breathed, not quite wanting to attract his attention but succeeded in doing so anyway.

"Hm?" He tilted his head and looked at me, eyes lit up and smile spreading across his face.

I felt myself blush, this side to him I hadn't seen...it was something else.

"So about last night." I sighed, adjusting my glasses as I tried to organise my thoughts and get the words out before I lost my nerve again.

"The part where you pinned me against the door or the part where you said you needed to think about stuff?"

Of course he'd bring up the physical aspect and make me blush harder. "The second one..." I uttered.

He smiled. "What about it?"

"I don't want to fuck up our friendship." I continued, trying to not look away from his understanding eyes. "But...I-I thought about it and--"

A harsh knock jarred me from my thoughts. We both looked at the door before he laughed quietly.

"I guess we'll have to do this later." he spoke softly. "We have guests to entertain."

I wanted to jump off the balcony into the pool. I was so damn close and then Bakagami had to arrive in that moment. I tried to will the blush to go away before the group piled into our room, blankets and all. It hadn't escaped my attention that Izuki was also blushing slightly but he played it off, saying he only just got out of the shower. They seemed to buy it...for now.

~*~

After much shouting and whining - mainly from Kagami surprisingly - we had a large 'fort' constructed from the two couches and god knows how many blankets. Everyone squeezed underneath the so called roof - which was two sheets connected by safety pins - and just laughed at the situation.

"Say, isn't this what girls do at slumber parties?" Koga asked, laying on his stomach between Mitobe and Kagami.

Everyone not-so-subtlely looked at Tsuchida.

"I mean, I guess? Heck you guys grew up with one for a best friend!" He replied, pointing at Kise and Aomine. "You should know."

"Tsk. Satsuki never really shared that part of her life with us." Aomine uttered, shifting his weight on his elbows.

"Yeah she was too busy swooning over Kurokocchi." Kise added.

"Oh yeah she has a thing for Kuroko." Kagami mused, everyone nodded, silently cursing the phantom member for not really taking advantage of the opportunity.

"Anyway, so what do we do now?" Kiyoshi questioned, breaking the silence. "I assume we're all staying here for a while now."

Izuki perked up, I should've seen this suggestion coming before we even agreed to hold it in our room. There's one thing I hate that Izuki loves.

"Ghost stories!" he exclaimed, grinning as the rest of the group took an interest.

"Oh god no." Kagami sighed, somewhat uneasily. "This is going to be so bad."

"Aw come on Kagamicchi~" Kise pined. "Don't be a downer like my senpai."

I couldn't really see Kasamatsu being one for ghost stories either, maybe I should talk to him about keeping my idiotic team members in order. Then again as far as Kise is concerned - the captain had no power here.

"I'm game." Aomine grinned, something about this didn't sit right. "Someone turn out the lights, we'll use a phone for light."

"I found a candle." Kuroko piped up.

"Where the fuck did you find a candle?" I asked, the fear already gripping me as I sat next to Izuki. He knew exactly why I hated ghost stories and he was going to pay for this...probably.

"...does it matter?" Kuroko asked, seemingly oblivious to everything as per usual.

Kiyoshi waded in and put an end to the argument. He peeled back the edge of one of the blankets we were sat on so the candle could sit on the floor, he then made sure that none of the pillows or other blankets would easily catch fire before lighting it with a match - conveniently found by Kuroko...again. With the lights turned out and the candle now being the only light inside this 'fort', Izuki started preparing a story for us. Everyone sat, knelt or led with curious gazes, some more invested in whatever was about to be said than others. I silently wished that I had Aomine's cool head fall back on instead of my paranoid one.

"Okay." he breathed, the candle flickered slightly. "We'll start off with a pretty well-known one."

Everyone nodded, captivated by the point guard's sudden dominance. I had to admit it was _very_ captivating how his eyes lit up and the mischievous smile played his lips as he began to tell the tale.

"They say that a woman walks the streets at night wearing a surgical mask. Most people assume she is merely sick and it's nothing special." He spoke softly but with a serious tone, slow and leaving enough silence between his sentences to create an uncomfortable feeling. "So what, y'know she's just sick. Wrong. She is Kuchisake-onna - the slit-mouthed woman. She'll stop people in the street if they are alone, she'll ask a simple question."

This was the story he had told me before, when we were in middle school on that Halloween when I stayed at his house. I wasn't so paranoid any more but if this was the first story then god only knew what else he had up his sleeve.

"She'll ask _Am I pretty_?" He put on a shrill female voice, gaining a small chuckles. "If you answer no then you are killed instantly by bloodied scissors. If you say yes then she'll peel off her mask and reveal her mouth, slit from ear to ear." He dragged his finger across his face, agonisingly slowly. "She'll then ask _What about now_? If you answer no then she'll cut you in half. If you say yes then she'll slit your mouth just like hers...it's impossible to run away from her...you'll be followed for eternity if you try."

There was a pause before Kagami sighed loudly. "So...do you have any scary ones senpai?" he asked, a slight smile on his face but there was still that uneasiness, was he perhaps scared?

"Tsk...I'm just warming up." Izuki replied, cracking his knuckles, the flame of the candle danced. "Who's heard of the Gozu story?"

No-one said anything, if anyone knew then they weren't saying anything.

"Well there's no official tale...because apparently anyone who even hears it will die of fright. One of the widely-believed stories surrounding this legend is when a school group were on a trip and their teacher tried to calm them down by telling ghost stories."

I vaguely remembered him telling me this one too...

"He started telling them the story of the cow head - Gozu - and became quickly engrossed in it. So much that he didn't notice his students begging him to stop, they begged and pleaded but he was too focused and could not stop...when he awoke from his trance the bus had crashed, the students had all died foaming at the mouth...the story itself causes tremendous fear and constant shaking - the human body gives out and the person dies before it can be retold."

A deathly silence hung in the air. I was beginning to get a little creeped out despite the fact these stories were not really that scary. Aomine seemed rather put out.

"If you tell us another crappy story then I'll scare you all half to death with one of mine." he uttered, ignoring the way the other first years fearfully looked at him.

"You mean you're not scared by the thought of even _hearing_ a story will kill you?" Kise asked, looking mildly uncomfortable as he hugged a pillow close to his chest.

"Aomine is right." Kagami stated, trying to play off whatever he was feeling. "These aren't scary senpai."

That didn't seem to deter Izuki. "Okay. I'll go straight for the mother load." He grinned. "So I found this one fairly recently, which means none of you have heard it before." he cast a sly glance in my direction. "It was the 2nd of January, 2:04am. I woke up to a knocking on the door. One knock every three seconds. I got up and walked down the stairs. As I walked down, the knocking on the door got faster, almost like a heartbeat. When I got to the door, the knocking stopped, I looked outside and nobody was there."

No-one said anything, everything seemed normal, he had a way of starting each new sentence by looking at someone which was a little unnerving to say the least.

"I went back up to my room and went back to bed, thinking it was just some kids playing a prank, y'know how kids are..." he smirked. "At 4:21am I woke up to the front door slamming shut. I jumped, terrified. I looked over at my frosted window to find _smile_ written all over it in the frost. I grabbed my phone next to me, ready to call the police, only to find a message written on it saying _I told you to smile_. I ran for my life..." He paused for a second, staring at the candle, it's flame dancing in the wake of his breath.

    "I knocked on my neighbour’s house across the road. They phoned the police for me. At exactly 5:42, the police came to my neighbour’s house after an extensive search of my house. They told me there had been no evidence at all of anyone in my house other than me, the messages on the window were gone, same with my phone. They told me to get some sleep and advised me to see the doctor about stress and anxiety problems...screw them...I knew what happened to me was real."

No-one said anything, I looked around at the faces of nervousness and interest. Kagami was edging closer to Kise who in turn had shuffled even closer to Aomine, Koga was hugging his knees, Tsuchida and Kiyoshi seemed the most relaxed out of the rest of those present.

    "The following evening, after spending the day at my neighbours, I went home. I went up to my bedroom and set up a camera. It was aimed at my bedroom door and my bed. I set it to record and went to sleep. Thankfully, I slept through the night. However, as I watched the footage the next morning, I couldn’t believe what I saw..at three am, something crawled out from under my bed. It was a completely naked, anorexic man. He stood up and looked at me on the bed. He did so for another hour, not moving at all. Then he moved. He walked over to the camera until his face took up the whole shot--"

"Oh god.." Kise whimpered into Aomine's shoulder. The blue-haired ace did little to comfort him and just stared at Izuki.

"He was extremely pale and had bulging veins all over his head." The point guard continued, using his hands to gesture to his own body in explanation. "His eyes were completely black, with a huge smile on his face. He stared at the camera, not blinking, just slightly twisting his head every now and again. After _two hours_ of him staring went past, he walked back over to my bed and crawled under from where he had emerged. I skipped the video forward until it showed me getting up and walking over to the camera. The video finished. I was frozen with fear. The video showed him going back under, but not leaving...whatever it was, it was still there..."

Izuki blew out the candle within a second of finishing. Everyone screamed and he just laughed. Aomine's phone lit up the darkness until Kiyoshi could relight the candle. There were many protests that the story was fucked up and how Izuki shouldn't have dragged it out and of course how he shouldn't have blown out the candle.

"You were all complaining that it wasn't scary enough!" he defended himself.

"Baka!" I sighed, grabbing him in a headlock and refusing to release him until he slapped my arm harshly. It was clear that his story had left a mark on Furihata and Kise who didn't seem to be going to sleep any time soon. I excused myself to go and get some air, the balcony beckoned in the darkness that had engulfed the room.

I had barely been out there for a minute when he appeared beside me. "You think I scared them enough?"

"I think so." I smiled, he nudged me in the ribs slightly. We could hear the others talking loudly about who had screamed the loudest, Kise was whining about how he was never going to trust a bed again and no-one seemed fazed by our absence.

"Yeah but were _you_ scared?" he continued, the smirk on his face said it all.

"N-No." I stammered. He raised an eyebrow and said nothing. "Fine....a little. But that was just because you scared me back in middle school."

"The look on your face that night..." he sniggered. "And then you didn't sleep for two days."

"Yeah..."

"Calling me and demanding I stay on the phone with you."

I saw his eyes light up as he remembered it all, it wasn't exactly my finest hour but it was kind of funny to think back at it. I had sworn to never listen to Izuki's stories again.

"I'd happily stay on the phone all night with you if you were scared." he mused.

I was about to reply when Aomine interrupted us. "Yo, so are you two coming back or what?" he asked from the doorway. With any hope of having a private conversation gone, we returned inside. Just before Izuki followed Aomine into the fort I grabbed his wrist and pulled him close to me.

"Meet me outside when everyone else is asleep." I whispered. His face flushed red but he nodded, coughing loudly as I released him. For my own sanity's sake, I hoped that they wouldn't take too long to fall asleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Disclaimer* I didn't create the ghost stories told in this chapter - they can be found online pretty easily - so I claim no credit over them.


	5. The prank calls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent far to much time smiling stupidly at my laptop screen.

Turns out scaring half of the team had its drawbacks, one of them being that no-one wanted to sleep. Another was the lack of distractions, even Kise was finding it hard to not think about the terrors. Aomine and Kiyoshi were the least affected and had actively been trying to lift the mood. The idea of playing truth or dare was out of the question after last time so we were trying to keep a dead conversation alive.

"We should totally prank call Midorima." Aomine suddenly stated, drawing Kise's attention immediately.

"Midorimacchi?" the blond asked, rolling onto his side next to Aomine.

"Yeah, he didn't want to come with us. Apparently his star sign was cursed or some bullshit like that."

"So you wanna call him?" Kagami asked, a devilish smirk on his face. "This is gonna be good."

So Kise took out his phone and dialled the other ace we had played against. The rest of the group waited with baited breath as the phone rang, after a few seconds a low and annoyed voice answered.

"Kise. Die."

"C'mon Midorimacchi~" he replied in his cheery tone. "We just wanted to know how your summer is going!"

"At one in the morning?"

"...yes."

"Die."

He hung up, Kise let out an exasperated sigh before tossing his phone onto the blanket in front of him. Aomine was smiling, he just had an idea.

**~*~**

"Senpai~" Kise greeted the person on the other end of his phone, it was on speaker again and everyone tried to stop themselves from laughing. "Senpai?"

"Kise you have three seconds to explain why you're calling me." Kasamatsu mumbled, he had been woken up by this call. I could imagine how annoyed I would be if someone like Kise called me in the early hours of the morning.

"I'm calling you from vacation senpai~"

"That's not an explanation!"

"Nee...senpai. I missed you!"

"Well I haven't missed you." was the reply but there was an uncertain tone to his words. "Anything else? Or can I go back to sleep?"

**~*~**

"Yo." Aomine called.

"Aomine-kun?"

"Yes Imayoshi." he dryly replied, annoyed that his team-mate hadn't taken the bait.

"What's up?"

"You're not annoyed I called you so late?"

"Why would I be annoyed?"

An eerie silence fell, Aomine was speechless for a second before he coughed. "Well Kasamatsu wasn't happy and Midorima told Kise to go die."

"Kise-kun? You're with the Seirin team aren't you?" there was a gleeful tone to his question which instantly put me on edge. "I remember you saying something about this..."

There was a little bit of back and forth before Aomine got bored and ended the call. We sighed and called a few more of the Kaijō and Tōō members, most refused to answer from Kaijō and Sakurai was the only one to answer from Tōō - apologising repeatedly for not being able to amuse Aomine - before deciding to recall Midorima.

"I told you to die Kise." he snapped.

"Yo." Aomine greeted whilst trying not to laugh.

"Aomine?"

Another voice on the other end of the phone caused us to glance at each other. "Shin-chan? Who keeps calling you?"

Kise nearly burst into laughter, Kagami had to put a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet.

"...Takao?" Aomine asked, struggling to keep himself from laughing. "Wait--"

"Die." Midorima stated before the call ended.

We laughed, I wasn't sure if it was because it was so late at night and the idea of Takao being with Midorima was hilarious to the ace's former team-mates or whether it was because there were so many questions. Izuki took out his phone and scrolled through the contacts until the other team's point guard's number came up.

"Izuki-san?" he seemed confused. "Why are you calling?"

Kise couldn't hold his laughter in any longer, Kagami nearly suffocated him with a pillow as Izuki tried to answer as calmly as possible, which wasn't exactly easy with all eyes on him.

"Just felt like we hadn't spoken in ages." he mused. "How are you?"

There was the sound of a scuffle on the other side, harsh whispers and a slight giggle was heard before Takao seemed to remember that there was a phone call going on.

"Izuki-san can I call you back tomorrow?"

**~*~**

The phone calls halted, we simply ran out of people to call who wouldn't actually kill us. Obviously calling Riko was just asking for trouble and everyone was finally beginning to get tired. As they fell asleep one by one I internally cheered, the only problem was trying to get Kuroko to sleep because _apparently_ he hadn't exhausted himself much and he was keeping Izuki and I in the damn fort whilst everyone else slept.

"So what are we doing tomorrow?" He asked us. I hadn't thought that far ahead, I was only thinking about one thing in that moment and it wasn't how to entertain an entire team for a day.

"Uh...I think we're gonna decide when everyone gets up, decide based on the weather too." Izuki replied coolly, he was led with his head on my lap again but we were far from caring in front of Kuroko.

"Oh."

"Why is there something you want to do?" I asked, trying not to stare to long at Izuki.

"Not really."

"Why don't you sleep?" Izuki asked, so much for subtlety.

"I'm not tired."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Koga rolled over on his sleep and nearly head-butted me so I sighed and told the two awake team-mates that I was going to stretch my legs. Izuki hummed in response and Kuroko just watched me leave. The night was cool, the breeze that whipped across the balcony was welcome from the stuffy fort. It would only be a matter of time before he found his way out here.

"Sheesh..." he sighed from behind me. "Kuroko has _got_ to know something's going on."

"Ah well." I uttered, feeling his chin rest on my shoulder. "I think they've all placed bets on it."

"No..."

I turned to face him, there was very little space between us but that didn't bother me in the slightest. He smiled at me, a small warm smile that made me blush slightly. Neither of us said anything for a few seconds, the sounds of the ocean in the distance and Aomine's snoring filled the silence.

"So what were you gonna say?" he asked quietly, getting straight to the point. "You left off with 'I thought about it and...'"

I swallowed, reaching up and pushing my glasses up the bridge of my nose. "Yeah. I thought about how long we've known each other, all the time we've spent together. How we've gone through all this craziness with the team and how we came so close to victory--"

"But we're gonna work hard and get to the winter cup." he interrupted. "S-Sorry, I didn't mean to cut in." I swore there was a hint of blush on his cheeks but the dim light wasn't helping.

I smiled at him, hesitantly started linking my fingers with his, his eyes widened but remained focused on me, his fingers linking with mine until we were holding hands. "I know. I was thinking about how we've become best friends and..." I exhaled, pausing for a second as I lost myself in his eyes, they looked so focused but so relaxed, it was different to the eagle eye I had grown accustomed to and even his normal calm gaze.

"and...?"

"And...how easily I relax when I'm around you. You're puns annoy the hell out of me sometimes but there's so much more to you than that."

He opened his mouth to say something but seemed to lose his nerve, he just blushed harder, squeezing my hand as his lips quivered slightly.

"I-I don't know how to explain it...this sudden change but I'm not complaining about it either." I was getting more and more flustered, losing track of what I was trying to say. "You're just...more than a best friend."

He nodded. "I..." he couldn't form the words, the one who always had a pun for everything couldn't find the words to express his emotions. He just squeezed my hand and took a half-step forward, closing the gap a little more. ". _Junpei_..."

".. _Shun_.." I whispered.

He was barely inches away from me but just like with the pocky, neither of us was man enough to make the first move.

"...I...I think I'm in love with you." he whispered back.

"You think?" I replied softly. "After I just said all that...you can only say you _think_?"

"I don't want to say it until you're sure." He leaned forward slightly, pausing just before our lips met and tilted his head to the left.

I gently placed my free hand on the back of his head, my fingers running through his hair as I gazed into his eyes that lit up. He let go of my hand and draped his arms on my shoulders, lightly stroking my neck. I let my other hand rest on his lower back and toy with the hem of his shirt.

"I'm sure." I told him, leaning forward and pressing my lips gently onto his, my eyes slipped shut as he pressed back, fingers running through my hair and noses brushing against each other.

His heart was beating quickly, I could feel it as the gap between us vanished, his lips were soft like I had imagined. An exhale of surprise came from him as my fingers brushed against the skin of his lower back, he pulled back slightly before kissing me with a little more force than before. His hands moved from my shoulders to my waist in one swift movement, I let a small gasp pass between my lips, catching both me and him by surprise.

I drew circles on his lower back with my thumb, he responded by parting my lips and moaning ever-so-slightly. It just made me feel certain that this was right for us. Gaining confidence from his actions I gently pulled his head back and moved my lips to his neck, he sighed and slid his hands under my shirt, his callused fingers gliding over my waist.

"..Junpei..." he sighed.

I pulled away from the small mark I had left on his neck. "Yes Shun?"

He blushed at me using his first name again, he clearly wasn't used to it. "So are we...a thing now?" he hesitantly asked, stroking circles onto my waist like I had done with his lower back as he gazed at me with excited eyes.

"If...that's what you want." I replied. "We're gonna have to deal with those guys though."

"I'm sure they've figured it out already." he smiled sheepishly. "We're not exactly subtle."

"Even so..." I murmured, pressing my lips to his gently. "I'd like to keep it from them for a few days, if that's okay with you."

He considered it for a moment. "Okay, but they're not morons, they'll figure it out sooner or later."

"Well it'll happen when it happens. I just want it to be our thing for a few days..."

We didn't actually return to the rest of the group, just the thought of trying to sleep in such a tiny space wasn't very appealing to either of us. After a while of us standing on the balcony, trading light kisses and watching the moon overhead, I led him back inside, past the blanket fort and into the bedroom. With only one of the futons left there was little option but to share, not that either of us really complained. I wrapped an arm around his waist as he led down with his back to me, pressing a kiss to his neck as he sighed.

"So subtle..." he murmured, tilting his head just enough for me to see the familiar smile.

"Shut up."

"God you're so grouchy sometimes." There was a hint of laughter in his voice. "Hyuu-gotta loosen up."

"I'm going to strangle you one day I swear."

"I love you too."

**~*~**

He was sat up and looking at the door when I awoke, it was closed so no-one had walked in on us, I lightly slid my fingers over his lower back to gain his attention. He turned and smiled at me, the others weren't awake it seemed so there was no rush to get up just yet, I coaxed him to lie back down, wrapping an arm around his waist as he faced me on the futon. This seemed so natural, the fact that I had admitted to myself that firstly I wasn't straight and secondly that I loved my best friend so easily didn't really faze me.

"What do you think they'll say?" he whispered, drawing circles on my chest with his finger. "The team?"

"I don't think they'll say much. Probably try to say they called it even though there was no evidence of us feeling this way..." I replied.

"Well, not from you anyway."

I raised an eyebrow as I watched him continue to draw circles. "Does anyone know you're gay?"

"From the team or in general?"

"Both."

"My older sister. As for the team...I think Riko might have picked up on it, maybe Koga but I haven't told them outright."

"Do you want them to know?"

He was silent, I took his hands in mine and looked him in the eyes, he shrunk back, a conflicted expression on his face but squeezed my hands. There was something he wasn't telling me.

"How long have you felt this way about me?" I asked quietly, trying to change the subject slightly.

It seemed to work, he smiled slightly, the hint of pink on his cheeks gradually going darker. "...a while." he whispered as if it was a secret still. "I-I don't even know when I realised..." He looked down at our hands. I wanted to ask him what he saw in me but I had a feeling it wouldn't help.

"Everything was normal...I dunno." he smiled a little wider and let out a breathless giggle. "I just know that it wasn't exactly slow. Before I knew it I was thinking about you more than normal. That's why I think Riko knows, she caught me in the locker room after everyone else had gone, you were the last one to leave so she put two and two together--"

"Wait...what?"

He looked up at me with wide eyes, bottom lip quivering slightly. A few seconds passed before he got a hold of himself. "I-I was red...apparently. She asked me why and I didn't answer, when she asked who left last and I told her it was you she smiled slightly and seemed to...conclude." he stammered, squeezing my hands as he spoke. I could tell that he was taking it seriously because there was a distinct lack of puns or wordplay. "I was blushing and I couldn't tell why but she seemed to know something. Maybe I had been staring at you or...whatever a lot more than usual?"

I couldn't say I had noticed anything of the sort, I had other things to think about after all, especially with the addition of Kagami and Kuroko causing a sudden power shift in the team. Even so, I felt a little bad now for not noticing sooner.

"And Koga?" I mused, moving to cup his cheek in one of my hands and cause him to look me in the eye again.

He leaned into my touch and seemed to calm down a little. "He asked me if I had my eye on a girl in our math class, I told him no. He then started asking if there was anyone at all I was interested in...to which I said no. There were a few other questions about what kind of girl I'd like and I think my lack of enthusiasm may have given it away."

I had to suppress a laugh, the idea of him not giving anything for Koga to hold over him was a little amusing. To have such a serious conversation with him, that was less amusing, it was almost out of character. The seriousness was broken when he leaned forward and captured my lips with his, the morning breath we both had was of little concern when he pushed himself onto his knees and leaned over me.

"It doesn't matter though." He whispered. "I'm done hiding it."

His expression was one of uneasiness, for someone saying he was fine with everyone knowing there was a lot of uncertainty in his eyes. I reached up and ran a hand through his hair coming to rest on the back of his neck. There wasn't really anything to say, I just gazed into those uncertain eyes as he hovered above me.

"So..." I uttered, gently pulling him closer and bringing my other hand to cup his face again. "They're gonna find out eventually...do you want to tell them?"

He shook his head slightly. I blinked slowly, so he didn't mind them knowing but he wasn't going to tell them outright, I could kinda understand it.

"Kiss me." he demanded quietly.

"Don't have to tell me twice." I replied, pulling him down. He moaned slightly as our lips met. I ran my hands down his sides, letting them rest on his waist, he took it as a signal to straddle me. It caught me off guard, gasping slightly as I felt our bodies align.

"Did I catch you off guard again _captain_?" he whispered, I could feel him smirking against my cheek as he kissed my neck.

"If you make that stupid pun then I'm throwing you against the wall." I hissed, squeezing his waist slightly as I kissed his jawline.

"Ooh...sounds fun."

I had to consciously bat those thoughts away before I got too excited at the idea, he was straddling my lap after all and would feel any physical shift I made. Somehow though, I knew he would only make it worse just out of spite.

"Gotta admit, it's a nice thought." he remarked.

I sighed, taking him by the shoulders and pushing him off to my side, I mirrored what he had done a few minutes earlier, only I actually held his wrists against the floor. A raised eyebrow made me want to slap him but also kiss him until he begged me for air. Izuki could be such a cocky bastard sometimes and he knew it.

"Y'know, anyone could walk in right now and see this...the captain pinning his point guard to the floor, having just shared a bed for the night..." he murmured, the smirk still there along with the mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

"And they'd wonder what the hell happened? Yeah, I don't really care." I found myself saying, the fear of what our team-mates would say was the least of my worries.

"What _would_ you say?"

I didn't answer, I just roughly kissed him, daring to lick his bottom lip. It was a more heated exchange than the last, he was louder for a start; the moans and gasps only fuelling the supressed desire that I didn't know I had. He arched his back, I smirked slightly as I lightly bit his bottom lip. I didn't know he could be this into something other than basketball and his god damn puns.

One of my hands wondered to the hem of his shirt as the other  moved to hold me above him, it was too tempting to pass up this opportunity. Slowly, as he tangled his now free hands in my hair, I let my fingers drift under his shirt, smooth skin and the slight bumps of toned muscles greeted me.

"Hyuuga..." he breathed, turning away from my lips. "..Junpei.."

"Hmm?" I replied, I had been absentmindedly running my fingers up and down his chest.

"I-I..."

I looked at him with curiosity. He was blushing and breathing heavily, my fingers continued to glide over his skin, the shirt riding up as I became bolder. Moving slowly, I kissed his neck, nipping slightly at the skin and causing him to moan slightly louder than before. I could spend a while slowly moving down his body but there was a limit to what we could get away with right now...

"Shh..." I whispered, kissing his cheek. "You'll wake the others up at this rate."

"...then stop biting me." he breathed, looking at me with lidded eyes. My own breath hitched in that moment and I could feel the heaviness in the air.

"By the sounds you were making...you enjoy it." I told him, my fingers still lingering under his shirt. "Don't deny it..."

He bit his lip and exhaled heavily. "...I do."

I withdrew my hand, moving it to cup his face and gently press my lips to his. A softer kiss to try and bring ourselves back to reality, it seemed to work even if he still seemed flustered. The sounds of movement from the other room made my eyes widen slightly, within a few seconds I was stood up and pressed against the door, trying to hear if anyone was actually awake. Izuki remained led on the floor breathing heavily, I wasn't sure what was going on in his head but my thoughts turned to the matter at hand.

"Hyuuga?" he called rather loudly, I wanted to hit my head against the door.

"Yes?" I replied, turning to look over my shoulder. He was sat up although there was still a hint of redness across his cheeks.

"Does this mean we won't get to kiss until tonight now?"

"Most likely, if you don't want to let them know about us that is."

He was then next to me, he took my shoulder and turned me around so my back was leaning against the door. Fingers appeared under my chin despite him being slightly shorter than me, a gentle kiss was planted on my lips, no other contact between us.

"I can't wait." he whispered with a sly smile, reaching behind me for the door handle, one swift movement opening the door and causing me to fall backwards into the entranceway.  



	6. The Karaoke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you so much for all your kind feedback and kudos everyone!  
> It literally puts a smile on my face each time I log on and see them and it makes me so happy to know people are enjoying all my hard work. :3

 

Kuroko had been the first to wake up, his horrendous bed-hair could only be compared to a porcupine and it honestly startled me at first, he didn't outright question Izuki and I being the only ones awake but I knew he'd mention it sooner or later. I actually sent my unofficial-boyfriend down to the dining room to see if we could have breakfast delivered up here, leaving me with the rest of them. I got dressed and asked the smaller boy what he thought we should do today.

"Kise-kun mentioned wanting to go into the forest." he replied, helping me clear up as much as we could without disturbing the others.

"He wants to go into the forest?" I asked doubtfully. "The model?"

"He's actually rather adventurous."

"Or is it more that Aomine wants to go and Kise is just going along with it?"

Kuroko didn't respond, he smiled slightly and continued folding some of the blankets that weren't used in the construction of the fort, maybe I was onto something with that assumption. Izuki took a long time to return, by the time he walked back up Kiyoshi and Koga had woken up and were sat on the floor debating what today's activity would be.

"So they're gonna send room service up." He told us as he re-entered the room. "We have about half an hour to get everyone up."

"Leave it to me senpai." Kuroko uttered, disappearing back inside. We all exchanged glances, wondering what the hell he was about to do. There was a deathly silence before all hell broke loose.

"Did you just lick me?!" Kagami thundered, we saw the outer layers of the fort jolt with sudden movement.

"Kagamicchi why did you kick me?" Kise's whine came out.

"Tetsu what the hell are you doing?" Aomine demanded.

A chorus of confused yelps and shouts came out, we couldn't help but laugh as Mitobe dragged Furihata out just before the rest of the blankets fell inwards. It took a few minutes to untangle the rest of them, it was a fairly tense atmosphere as the three aces regarded each other whilst the rest of us cleared the blankets away to make way for breakfast.

"I didn't mean to kick you." Kagami sighed to Kise.

"And I didn't mean to head-butt you Tschida-senpai." Kawahara added.

"You wanna apologise to me Tetsu?" Aomine asked with a small smirk.

"Not really."

We were saved from Aomine's wrath by a knock at the door, two house-keepers wheeled in a cart with a collection of covered silver trays, I didn't want to know how much this cost but then again that was Riko's problem. We thanked them for the food before laying it all out on one of the tables, it was the fairly normal breakfast; rice, miso soup, some grilled fish and two pots of green tea. Even with Kagami's appetite there was more than enough to go around.

"So what _are_ we doing today?" Koga asked, we hadn't really cone to a conclusion earlier.

"Dunno." I replied, picking up my bowl of rice. "Someone else take charge for once, this is my vacation too."

My remark gained a small laugh from everyone, a few ideas were tossed around as everyone ate before Kiyoshi decided to have some order. The idea of going into the forest was a popular one but the conversation on the beach came back into my mind, I suggested we combine the two.

"Have a bonfire in the forest?" Kagami asked, pouring more tea. "Isn't that illegal?"

"There's actually a camp-site in the forest not too far from here, we'd be allowed to have a small one there." Kiyoshi explained, setting his chopsticks down. "However, this means that we're gonna have to gather wood from the forest."

It was pretty much decided in that moment that we'd go through with it. Once everyone finished breakfast I kicked them all out so they could go and shower or whatever they needed to do to prepare for the day ahead. I sighed loudly as I closed the door on the last of them, Izuki laughed from the doorway to the restroom.

"Quit laughing at me." I half-heartedly snapped, giving him a kiss on the cheek as I passed him. "And get your ass in the shower already."

"You could always join me." he remarked.

"And _chill_ like last time? I don't think so." I sarcastically replied.

"I don't take cold showers." he muttered. "You were the one who decided to make it cold."

I made a gesture for him to hurry up, we didn't have long til the agreed meet up time and I didn't want to be the last ones down there. As far as either of us could tell, no-one suspected anything, except maybe Kuroko. Which was actually gonna be a slight problem if he said anything to Kagami. I cleared the dishes away, setting them all on the cart again for house-keeping to take away.

 I knew this was going to be a long day but I was actually enjoying myself even if I didn't outwardly show it. Something about watching the team kick back and have fun gave me a sense of satisfaction, knowing that once we got back to school it would be noses to the grindstone again with the endless training. Heck this was the last time we'd be able to relax for such a long period of time just before the Winter Cup.

My thoughts drifted to when Kuroko would bring all of the photos to practice, we'd laugh and try to explain away the strange poses and facial expressions, even go as far as hiding them from Riko - if she knew half of what we had done so far then I'm sure I would get yelled at. Then my thoughts shifted to Izuki, would we be the type of couple to stay behind after practice just to make out in the locker room? Would we still be dating in secret at that point? Would we walk home together, hand in hand? Would I even tell my family? Just the thought of telling my parents that I was...

"Hey, shower's all yours." Izuki murmured, coming up behind me and kissing my bare shoulder. He must've sensed my inner conflict when I didn't respond. "Something on your mind?"

"...I haven't come out to my parents." I breathed. "How am I gonna tell them?"

"Don't worry about it...not yet anyway. Just think about the rest of our vacation okay?" he replied, wrapping his still damp arms around my waist. "Just think about me." he murmured into my shoulder. It made me feel a little bit better but still didn't totally make me forget about the nerve-wracking process of telling my parents about this...

~*~

The sunlight drifted through the leaves overhead, as much as we all wanted to run riot through the forest Kiyoshi had another idea. He had divided us into three teams; one would gather firewood, one would prepare the site for the fire by collecting rocks and digging out a pit whilst the last would gather other supplies like food and blankets to sit on. It shouldn't take _all_ day but that's exactly what was going to happen. Especially as I had been stuck with not one but all three aces to collect the wood.

"You could say we were _lumbered_ with them." Izuki remarked as we set off on one of the trails.

"Izuki..." I sighed, wanting to simultaneously hit and kiss him, both would shut him up. I studied the map that dictated where we could take branches from, some areas of the forest had rarer species of trees so we had to keep track of where we were so we only took what we were allowed to. As we walked deeper, still on the marked trail, Aomine made a bet with Kagami that he could collect more than him, Kise just laughed at them as the red-head accepted the bait and went charging off into the foliage. Aomine went a different direction and that left three of us to actually stick to the trail.

"Nice to see they're _branching_ out."

"Shut up Izuki." I sighed. ""So Kise. Are you gonna follow one of those bakas or are you staying with us?"

"I'll stay with you senpai, I don't want to get lost!" He replied, clasping both hands together and smiling at me.

At least one of the aces here still had his brain, Izuki just shrugged and took the map from me, deeming that we had been stood still for too long. We continued down the trail, picking up loose logs and fallen branches as we went, Kise kept the conversation alive by telling us about the time he did a photo shoot in an overgrown garden, apparently he got attacked my bees, that was an amusing mental image.

"Where the hell are those two idiots?" I asked no-one in particular. We had reached the end of the trail, a bench was placed beside a small stream that had been running alongside the path, with the pile we had had gathered I reckoned we could take a break.

"Probably _barking_ up the wrong tree."

"Izuki I swear--"

Kise was too busy laughing for me to stay mad. Not that I really _was_ mad, it was more a force of habit now to threaten Izuki whenever he made a damn pun. The sun was slowly beginning its decent in the sky so we started to make our way back up the trail, with no sign of Aomine or Kagami I was getting more and more annoyed.

~*~

We got back to the others, Kagami and Aomine arrived a few minutes later, each boasting they had the bigger pile. In the end it didn't really matter - although Aomine would declare himself the winner - Koga and Furihata began organising everything we had collected so that Mitobe could stack it all up. They were halfway through building the bonfire when Kiyoshi arrived with the others, shopping bags fit to burst with snacks and other supplies. I had a feeling there were a few boxes of pocky in there for some reason.

"Everyone still alive?" he asked, putting the two bags down next to where I was laying on the grass.

"So far. Nearly lost two of those idiots in the forest." I dryly replied.

He simply laughed and went about checking on the state of the fire. I went back to basking in the late afternoon sun, a light breeze was passing over the area, rustling the leaves in the trees and shifting the grass I lay on. I was vaguely aware of someone lying beside me, I assumed by the silence that it was Kuroko or Izuki but I got a different vibe after a while.

"So you don't need my help after all?"

"Kagami." I acknowledged. "I don't know what you mean."

"You know exactly what I mean senpai." I could hear the grin on his face. "I can tell."

"Tell what?" I asked, half terrified of what he was about to say.

"That you have a thing for Izuki."

"Of course Kagami..." I sighed, trying to play off how he just hit the nail on the head. "Of course I have a thing for Izuki..."

I knew I hadn't fooled him, he would probably play dumb now like Kuroko always does - heck _those_ two probably had something going on - and then bring it up again later.

"Gee senpai, denial is a sign you do."

I was about to sit up and hit him in the stomach just to prove a point but Koga called that the fire was ready to be lit as soon as it got dark. Thankfully it didn't take too long for the final traces of the sunlight to disappear over the horizon, leaving behind orange streaks in the sky and the heat of the day. We sat around the small collection of wood that had been gathered, waiting for Kiyoshi and Tsuchida to get it lit, spirits were high, I knew that everyone was excited to start roasting marshmallows and figure out what else we were gonna do in the glow of the fire. I hoped to hell that we wouldn't end up playing some stupid rendition of truth or dare again.

~*~

It was great, the fire lit without trouble, no-one had their eyebrows or hair catch alight, heck no-one even had their marshmallow fall into it either. Things were going well, there was a contest to see who could shove as many of the gooey treats onto one stick and not have any turn to mush, so far Mitobe was winning.

"God dammit! Kagami cursed, he nearly dropped another one onto the grass as his stick snapped. "Why is this so hard?"

Kuroko nudged him and showed off his ability to stack them perfectly, it only made the red-head more annoyed. The other two aces weren't faring too well, not that Kise really cared, he just ate the ones that Aomine threw at him in frustration, giggling every-time. Furihata was probably the closest to beating Mitobe, Kawahara and Fukuda had given up a long time ago, Koga hadn't even tried, Tsuchida and Kiyoshi just kept fuelling the rivalry between the aces.

"You're hardly making an effort." I remarked to Izuki, he wasn't even holding a stick.

"Maybe I just want to _mallow_ out?" He replied, that smile couldn't save him from my wrath. I swallowed the marshmallow I had been chewing and pinned him to the ground by his wrists, he laughed and made little attempt to wriggle free. It hadn't occurred to me exactly what I was supposed to do now that he was defenceless.

"I think this is the part where you kiss me." he breathed, I could practically feel my face heating up at his remark.

"Like hell am I doing that here baka." I hissed in response, moving my hands to his sides. "Later though."

He raised an eyebrow before I began tickling him. The others caught on quickly and before I knew it I was on the back foot, Izuki pinning me to the floor as the cries of protest from Aomine being attacked by Kise filled the silence. I hadn't realised this morning how...light he was. He didn't waste any time running his fingers up my sides, I tried to get him off me but he was ridiculously good at batting my frantic hands away.

"Quit squirming!" He laughed, unable to keep a straight face.

I was vaguely aware that the rest of the team had only followed suit, although I was far more interested in trying to remove Izuki from straddling me because popping one here would be ten times worse than kissing him in front of everyone. After a few more moments of hopelessly flailing, he let me go, eyes lit up in the glow of the dancing flames.

"I hate you." I uttered, not putting any truth behind my words. The others were all still caught up in either eating or trying to kill Aomine by tickling him, although my guess was Kise was more likely to pass out from laughing too much.

"I love you too." he whispered, an all-knowing smile settling on his face.

"Can't you wait til we get back to the room before you start going all love-struck?" I asked, trying not to gain anyone else's attention.

"We could be here a while..." He replied, gesturing to the others who seemed far from ready to leave. Not that I minded, the longer we spent here meant they'd sleep in tomorrow morning.

~*~

As the night drew in we quietened down and huddled closer in the fire's glow, opting just to relax rather than trying to get a rise out of each other. The fire crackled and popped as the smoke rose into the darkened sky, the moon was bright, not a full moon but it was still something to look at. The stars were dotted across the sky, I lay with my head in Izuki's lap, he ran a hand lazily through my hair. I was too tired and relaxed to care about the others, besides Kise had basically demanded that Aomine used him as a pillow, Kagami had actually fallen asleep next to Kuroko and the rest of them were barely awake.

"This is good." Koga declared, everyone who was awake nodded or hummed in agreement. "We should do this more often!"

"Shh...you'll wake the tiger." Kiyoshi murmured, nodding to the sleeping red-head. I watched as Kuroko mimicked Izuki's actions, as much as I didn't want to jump to conclusions there was a certain curiosity mounting.

"Quit staring." Izuki whispered. "You'll make everyone think you're jealous."

"You know I'm not."

"Straight? Yeah." he mused quietly.

I elbowed him in the stomach slightly, we were far too close to the others for that kinda of talk. Mitobe gave us a slightly puzzled look but I tried to ignore it. Conversation died, everyone got lost in their own thoughts for a while before Kagami startled himself awake.

"Sleep well Bakagami?" Aomine remarked with a laugh as the red-head tried to deflect the attention away from him.

"Shut up."

"He has a point though." Kiyoshi remarked. "We shouldn't fall asleep here."

Fukuda sighed. "Do you have an idea to keep us awake then?"

"I do actually."

We all looked on in curiosity as our centre rummaged through one of the bags, a box of pocky fell out but that wasn't what he was looking for, I don't think anyone was really expecting him to pull out a harmonica.

"You sing karaoke right Kise?" he asked, the blond looked startled but nodded, a small smile appearing on his face. "What can you sing?"

The fire popped and hissed as many popular songs were batted back and forth, it got a bit loud and I nearly stepped in but thankfully Kuroko's voice of reason rose above the argumentative aces. There was some confusion as to why Aomine refused to listen to Kise sing _some cheesy pop song_ but it was a point he was apparently sticking to...or trying to anyway.

"But why Aominecchi?"

"Just sing girls wanna have fun and get it over with." Kagami suggested, a grin spreading across his face as the other ace just shook his head.

"No!" Kise replied, focusing back on the blue-haired ace still resting his head on the older boy's lap. "What would you have me sing?"

"Oh god." Furihata sighed, that only added to the suppressed laughter from the rest of us.

"Sing Bohemian Rhapsody." Aomine demanded, flashing a shit-eating grin at his former team-mate.

"Fine!"

Kiyoshi raised an eyebrow before giving a few test bursts from the small instrument.

"No! You can't do that song! It'll be blasphemy!" Kagami interrupted. "God, do something that's slaughtered regularly at least!"

Kise shrugged and gave a hopeless expression. "Well you suggest something then!"

Considering the whole point of this was to keep us awake, it was succeeding. I sat up and actually started paying attention to the chaos unfolding between the three of them.

"Do you know any other foreign songs?"

"A few. Why?" Kise narrowed his eyes at Kagami.

I had the feeling that this was only going to get ugly.

~*~

" _You're insecure,  
Don't know what for,_ ~"

"I'm not insecure--" Aomine started to complain before Kise grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to endure this serenade.

" _You're turning heads when you walk through the door,_  
_Don't need make-up, to cover up,_  
 _Being the way that you are is enough.~_ " the blond sang, he was actually pretty good at singing, it was a rather bizarre thing to witness though,  he had gotten into the zone just by singing and it was only making Aomine blush...which was very amusing.

"Kise why the fuck would I wear make-up?" he scowled, Kise just continued onto the chorus.

" _Baby you light up my world like nobody else,_  
_The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed,_  
_But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell,_  
_You don't know~_ "

 Aomine was not happy about it in the slightest, which only made the blush more noticeable on his tanned skin. "Kise I swear--"

" _You don't know you're beautiful_ ~" He managed to prevent Aomine silencing him by scrambling to his feet and proceeding to dance his way around the fire - still singing as he did so.

"Oh god please stop." Kagami was dying at the sight in front of us but he was about to get a nasty surprise.

" _If only you saw what I can see,  
You'd understand why I want you so desperately_ ~" Kise pounced on his shoulders, catching him off guard and almost getting slapped in the process. " _Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe, you don't know. Oh, oh, you don't know you're beautiful_ ~"

The brief lyric break was filled with threats from both disgruntled aces and the rest of the group in hysterical laughter. Kise was having a whale of a time getting a rise out of his rivals and it was only going to continue. I wasn't expecting a duet though. The slap on my back shouldn't have been so startling but even Kise seemed surprised when the second voice joined in.

" _So come on. You got it wrong._  
_To prove I'm right I put it in a song_." He smirked at me. I felt myself turning red, Izuki was singing. None of us had ever heard him sing before and god it sounded so sexy. The rest of team Seirin was just as blown away but they didn't understand how much of an impact his voice had on me...

  
" _I don't know why, you're being shy,_  
_And turn away when I look into your eyes_ " He sung softly, there was a huskiness to his voice that only added to my predicament. I couldn't look away though, that was the problem.

" _Everyone else in the room can see it,  
Everyone else but you_ ~" Kise added unhelpfully, pouncing back on Aomine.

Him and Kagami were at loss, Kiyoshi was doing well to keep the song going despite the hilarity and I was pretty sure Kuroko had that damn camera again. The first years had started to provide whatever backing vocals they would bring themselves to do, only adding to the hilarity and encouraging Kise to annoy Aomine even more.

" _Baby you light up my world like nobody else,_  
_The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed,_  
 _But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell_." Izuki didn't seemed fazed by having everyone watching him have this effect on me. I still couldn't quite believe he was actually singing to me at this point.

Before I could even process what was happening any-more, Koga was joining in too, Mitobe just face-palmed as the smaller male jumped up enthusiastically.

" _You don't know, oh oh,  
You don't know you're beautiful!_ "

I was trying so hard to keep my composure but I was caught between laughing at the pure ridiculousness of the situation and just staring at Izuki. Kagami seemed to be watching me, the bastard knew exactly what was going on and I couldn't do anything about it. Kise was suddenly at my side, up close I could see why the blond was so highly regarded as a model, it didn't stop me leaning backwards into Izuki's arms though.

There was just too much to take in at once. Kise was dominating the singing but that wasn't stopping Koga and Izuki from making this ten times cheesier, Mitobe and Tsuchida just shook their heads, refusing to be dragged down to this level.

" _Baby you light up my world like nobody else,_  
_The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed,_  
_But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell~_ " Kise was full on serenading Aomine now, Kagami was in stitches as the quieter chorus was sung, Kuroko was actually filming the god damn performance and probably had been the entire time. The Tōō ace glared at his former team-mate, who was now sat on his legs, but that blush was still there.

" _You don't know!_ " Koga added before the rest of them launched into the last spectacular chorus.

" _Baby you light up my world like nobody else,_  
_The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed,_  
_But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell,_  
_You don't know~_ "

Izuki actually leaned closer to me, a smile spreading across his face as Furihata kept the singing going, I could tell there were going to be a lot of embarrassed faces when Kuroko showed the video to Riko. They were two sentences away from the end when he whispered in my ear.

"It's later."

I didn't understand what he meant until the last second. There was no way Izuki would do it. He didn't want everyone to know outright. He didn't want to come out just yet. Regardless, the look in his eyes as the dying flames danced in the breeze said something completely different.

" _You don't know you're beautiful, oh oh,_ ~" Kise was so into it he hadn't noticed what everyone else had.

" _That's what makes you beautiful_ " Izuki breathed.

For a split second I actually thought he was going to do it but then he just winked at me before launching himself at me and tickling me again. My heart couldn't take much more of this. Kise punched the air in victory, Aomine then launched into a lecture about how he said no cheesy pop songs. As I shook Izuki from on top of me again I could sense the stare from Kagami.

"You better believe that you're gonna pay for that." I murmured to the point guard. He smiled and tilted his head to the side.

"Oh really? Cause I was thinking about getting my revenge for this morning." He mused, quietly.

Kiyoshi was trying to organise everyone to pack up so we could get back to the hotel before midnight. I could only stare at Izuki, a different one stared back, I didn't know he could give off the dominant vibe but here it was. He stared at me, dark eyes watching me, the smirk just growing as he realised I had no comeback.

"Maybe you'll forfeit your captaincy." He added, patting my cheek as he stood up to help with the clear up.

What the hell was going to happen behind closed doors tonight? I felt nervous but _excited_. Was he going to properly let loose? Give in to whatever desires he had? Was it going to cause me to do that same? The image of him moaning underneath my touch that morning flashed through my mind, it was a very pleasant image that very nearly got the better of me.

"Yo captain, are you gonna help or what?" Koga called me out of my thoughts, I not only caught Izuki smirking but also realised I had Kagami's attention. I needed to find a solution and quickly or else this was going to blow up more than Kise's god damn phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the god damn song in my head for three days after writing this. THREE GOD DAMN DAYS.


	7. The Revenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there goes the rating change.  
> So lemme clue you guys in on some things;  
> 1\. I've been awake for more than 36 hours so I'm in a really weird mood but it also means I'm probably going to be asleep for most of tomorrow - hence the early update.
> 
> 2\. I've been handed a request to include more smut. This chapter was already written when I got the request so there'll be another smutty chapter in a few days, probably twice as smutty (that isn't a word I swear). 
> 
> 3\. I do accept suggestions/requests for scenes! The more detail the better and more likely that they'll be included. Obviously I may edit them slightly to fit better with the overall plot (believe it or not there is one) but yeah, I'm starting to run out of ideas now so I'd appreciate any input!
> 
> 4\. This chapter took an entire week to write because I spent more time reading smut than writing it. It's actually been a year since I've written any. So yeah sorry if it's a tad disjointed in places - I did reread it like five times tonight alone.
> 
> And now that I'm done babbling and misspelling every other word.   
> Enjoy~!

We agreed to meet the others at lunch the next day, I was so thankful that there wasn't actually a solid plan for the day. As we waved Koga and Mitobe off, their room being a little further down the hallway from ours, Izuki's fingers lingered at the hem of my shirt. This was going to be a very fast change from 'polite and pun-tastic point guard' to whatever dominant mindset he had been hiding all this time.

Or at least that's what I originally thought.

"I'm gonna take a shower okay?" he told me as I locked the door behind us.

"O-Okay." I replied, a little confused, he had taken one this morning but I didn't question it.

"Don't worry, it'll happen." he stated, voice lower. The tone alone sent a shiver down my spine as he looked over his shoulder at me, his eyes were still showing the more predatory glint, almost as if he could enter a zone-like state.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I sighed, batting the beginnings of arousal away. "I'm just gonna chill on the couch."

He chuckled. "You do that."

As the shower started running I started thinking about what he could possibly mean by ' _it'll happen_ ' . I was starting to over-think it all when a text came in from Kiyoshi.

_I saw that look you gave Izuki._

I narrowed my eyes. Him, out of all of the idiots present, had to be the one to actually text me about it.

_What's your point?_

_Koganei seems to think there's something occurring._

I rolled my eyes, remembering what Izuki had said about Koga possibly knowing about his sexuality. Why did the Iron heart himself have to wade into this matter? Didn't he have anything better to do than meddle in my personal life?

_That's your point? Geez, how long do you think Izuki and I have known each other? We're childhood friends and you know that!_

I had to admit, this was getting around the team faster than I anticipated, finding new excuses and explanations was proving to be more exhausting than previously thought. Of course it would just be easier to tell them but that wasn't my call.

_Just an observation Captain. See you tomorrow :)_

I nearly threw my phone out the open balcony door, instead I got up and shut the sliding door, pocketing my phone and sighing. I took off my glasses momentarily and rubbed my eyes. This was getting stressful. I had no idea how long Izuki would be so I got changed, the simple shirt and shorts combo seemed sufficient - my phone remaining in the pocket of my other shorts to buzz to its heart's content if anyone else tried to bother me.

A few minutes passed of me pacing the lounge area, I was back to over-thinking again. I came to the conclusion that he couldn't possibly want to have sex so soon, heck I wasn't even sure about it. Then again I only recently started harbouring these feelings towards him, he had been feeling them for a while at least. That left a whole host of other things he could want though, things I had only briefly thought about before with girls in mind, the idea of a guy doing some of those things with me had never crossed my mind.

The shower stopped. I became aware of my heart hammering in my chest, my breathing was laboured just as if I had just been training for twenty minutes, my skin was crawling but not in a bad way, no _this_ was more in anticipation for whatever was about to happen. Maybe I wanted him to just waltz out and do whatever he wanted to me.

Was I really that submissive? Or was I just so inexperienced that I'd be willing to let him teach me anything?

"Have you been stood there this entire time?" He remarked, bringing me from my chaotic thought process. He was shirtless, towel draped around his neck, toned shoulders and hair still dripping water onto his chest. I couldn't stop staring as one droplet slid down towards his stomach.

"N-No!" I replied, delayed thanks to my brain becoming detached from my mouth. "I was pacing and...and.."

He had stepped towards me, clasping the towel in both hands, tilting his head with a smirk. "And?"

I was lost for words. He was acting all sweet and innocent again but I could see that look in his eyes still, he was toying with me slightly, gauging how I was going to react to what he had planned.

"And I got distracted."

He raised an eyebrow and bit his bottom lip. "Okay." With one swift movement he threw the towel behind him towards the bathroom and took my hands in his. "So. How far are you willing to go?" He asked in a serious tone that sent a chill down my spine again, he was asking for consent. He was asking how much I was willing to do or let him do to me. He was checking I wasn't just going along with it because it's what he wants.

"I-I..." I stammered, not knowing how to phrase any of my thoughts. "...I'm still getting used to the idea..."

He nodded reassuringly. "Just say if I'm going too fast."

As quickly as the towel had been thrown, he was back in his predatory mindset, the grip on my hands tightened as he pulled me to the couch. He forced me to sit down, straddling my lap and cupping my face in his hands. It was all a blur really but he held me still, breathing steadily as we sat eye to eye.

"Good?" He purred. I swallowed. He was battling himself really, trying to be considerate but wanting to do god knew what to me at the same time. I couldn't be sure which one I wanted more.

I nodded in his hands, feeling flustered and calm all at once. He pressed his lips softly to mine, his hands moving to my shoulders and giving them a small squeeze. My own hands found their way to his waist, everything seemed to click in my head; just how close we were, my thundering pulse as he began to apply more pressure to the kiss, the fact he was shirtless _and_ straddling me, I could feel his excitement as he pressed his hips down onto mine.

He tentatively licked my lips, I hesitantly parted them, there was a slight moan from him as my hands began to wander over his lower back. Within a few seconds his hands moved from my shoulders to my chest, his hands were warm even through the thin fabric of my shirt. He broke away from my lips and regarded me with a small smirk.

"Shirt. Now." he demanded,

I obediently removed the offending garment, his eyes travelled up and down my body, biting his lip as he leaned closer again. Callused but soft fingers stroked my chest, his gaze flicked from my lips to my eyes repeatedly as he just ran his hands up and down. I was breathing heavily just at this contact let alone anything else.

"Izuki..." I sighed, he smiled a little wider.

"Yes...captain?" He replied, slowly pressing his hips against mine again just to make me even more aware of how easily he could cause friction between our bodies.

I almost felt embarrassed at what I was about to say. "...y-you can go a little faster." I uttered, not quite meeting his eye.

"Oh really?" his tone dropped again. I felt myself blush harder and found myself nodding.

There were a few seconds where he didn't say or doing anything else, he was thinking about it and I was getting more and more flustered. I felt a tongue on my neck before he bit down, hard. My hands flew to his waist and squeezed, he rolled his hips again which only added to the sensation, I was _enjoying_ getting bitten...

He giggled, licking at the spot he just bit. "Have fun explaining that away."

"You didn't..."

"I did."

"Baka!"

He giggled again before the more controlled side of him came back, he prised my hands from his waist and got off my lap. He seemed to admire whatever mark he had left on me as well as the general view he had. Not that mine was anything to complain about, the sight of him shirtless standing in front of me looking as if he could easily have his way with me...

"I said I'd get my revenge." He remarked before nodding to the rest of the couch. "Lie down _Junpei_."

My gaze wondered down to his waist, further south to the bulge that his shorts, for the most part, hid from view. He followed my gaze, looking back at me with an all-knowing smirk. I didn't need to be told twice, I shuffled and led down, trying to calm my heart and my breathing before he continued his revenge. Not that I was complaining, it meant I could get him back at some stage.

"Did you like what you saw?" he whispered, suddenly leaning over me. I locked eyes with him, throat going dry as the question seeped into my brain which was in the gutter for the most part.

"Y-Yes." my lips betrayed me. He smiled, gently kissing me as his hand slowly trailed down my torso, stopping just before the waistband of my shorts. The soft and slow movements of his fingers as they drew circles on me was driving me insane and he knew it.

"Not that you've _really_ seen." He mused. "And I don't intend to just show you either."

"...w-wha--"

"You've got to earn it... _captain_." He emphasised my title again, pausing in his movements to catch my eye.

Even if I wasn't already turned on by the situation, my arousal hit me all at once. I tried so hard to not let it show, not with his hand barely a few inches above of where I wanted it to be.

"Cat got your tongue?" he asked when I didn't respond.

"N-No." I stammered, voice cracking. He smiled and leaned his face closer to mine, he had me where he wanted me and was taking great joy in dragging this out. A sadistic Izuki was something I hadn't expected but yet, here I was, completely caught up in his careful words, intense eyes, the light, lustful touches from his fingers and his lips alike.

I was so unsure of what to do that my hands had remained where I rested them above my head, he had noticed this and took them gently, coaxing me to let them go where they pleased. They needed very little encouragement after that, he kissed me again, parting my lips easily and darting his tongue between them. I dragged my fingers up his back, he gasped harshly which only made me do it again, raking them down his spine all the way to the curve of his ass where I squeezed. He moaned, I let out a small breathless gasp, daring myself to be more adventurous.

"You're having fun." He purred in my ear as he broke away from my lips.

"And you aren't?" I replied, bringing both hands up his back, my thumbs moving around to tease his nipples slightly. His breathing hitched and he seemed to lose his composure for a second. It was strange how easily the power would shift between us, although he was clearly more in control than I was.

"Touché." He whispered, moving as if to straddle me again, he was blushing slightly but the look in his eyes was still there and he wasn't done with me yet. He leaned over my thighs, slightly further away from my touch, my thoughts caught up just in time for me to realise what he was setting himself up to do.

He started on my collarbone, kissing and lightly biting, I tangled a hand in his glossy black hair as he slowly left a trail of small marks that were nothing compared to what was probably on my neck. With each kiss he got closer and closer to the arousal I was failing to suppress, he dragged his fingers down my chest agonisingly slowly which only made me moan his name louder than I intended to.

When he reached the waistband again my breathing hitched, my pulse quickened, was he really going to go for it? Even he seemed slightly in the dark as his fingers dared to hook underneath. He glanced up at me and smiled, the softer side to him coming back for a second as he searched for what I wanted.

"Do you want me to?" he asked quietly.

I was conflicted. I was too turned on to say no but still hesitant enough to doubt myself. I bit my lip and hoped he could sense it. A silence fell between us but he nodded, with his fingers still hooked under the waistband he shifted so that we were face to face again, his other hand holding him over me.

"Tell me...do you want me to?" he repeated the question, all signs of the dominant side had vanished and the Izuki I knew and loved was back, not that I _didn't_ like the newer side to him.

"I-I...I do...but I don't." I managed to say. He tilted his head and waited for me to elaborate, an almost wistful expression on his face. "I want you to, so fucking much..." I blurted out. "But...I've never had..." my face felt like it was on fire, he smiled and nodded, kissing my cheek tenderly.

"Neither have I." he confessed, not hesitating even a little bit. "It'll be a first for me too."

The new information startled me, was I really his first? The silence that had fallen needed to be broken before it got awkward, his fingers were still teasing me slightly which wasn't helping.

"...do you know...how?" I uttered, watching the blush creep over his cheeks.

"I-I have a vague idea." he murmured, kissing my neck. "So...yes or no?"

Yes. No. Both. My mind was a flurry of thoughts and images. I exhaled heavily, willing myself to come up with an answer for him before we both lost our nerve.

"Yes."

He pressed his lips to mine, starting off gentle and slow, he edged his fingers further into my shorts. I gasped slightly, my hands coming up to tangle in his hair again. He nipped at my bottom lip as his hand reached my bulge, I was beyond words as he slowly spread his fingers and stroked me through my boxers.

_A vague idea_

I moaned, turning away from his lips. He was hardly doing anything but I was already losing it, having him doing this with such ease and confidence. He had been watching me, fingers still stroking me without actually taking hold yet, small whimpers left my lips as I felt his eyes on me. As quickly as I had gotten used to the sensation, it was gone. He withdrew his hand and moved back to where he had been leaning over my thighs, his legs caging my own. He raised an eyebrow as he moved to remove my shorts, lustful eyes sending another shiver through me.

"May I?" he asked, although we already knew what the answer would be.

I nodded, unable to form words as the trace of a smirk appeared on his face. He wasted no time with formalities, unfastening the button and practically tearing them off me. All thought processes were abandoned when he started running his fingers over my bulge, more pressure this time as he locked eyes with me again.

A strangled gasp left me, he leaned down and kissed my stomach, daring to suck a small mark there as I was caught between keeping myself quiet and letting every breathless moan leak out. He reached up and started dragging his fingers down my chest, nails catching on the skin and making me arch my back. I couldn't decide what to do with my hands so I settled for gripping the couch cushion as he continued to drift downwards.

"I-Izuki..." I breathed, he was mouthing at my cock through the layer of fabric, maintaining eye contact as his hands dwelled at my waist.

_A vague idea. Right._

"Hmm..." he paused, staring at me with eyes that just screamed sinful thoughts.

"Just...do it." I blurted out, he smirked slightly.

"You're so impatient." He purred, hooking fingers under the waistband like before. "It might be your undoing."

I made a noise that was half desperation and half frustration, he slowly, so _fucking_ slowly edged my boxers down just enough for my arousal to be revealed. A trace of blush and partial surprise flashed across his face as he took in the sight in front of him, I had never really been one to compare myself to others when it came to my size. Sure there had been the odd glimpse in the locker rooms but not an up close comparison.

Izuki regained whatever composure he had lost and locked eyes with me again. I swallowed as his fingers gently wrapped around the base. He seemed slightly unsure of himself but his eyes were still dripping with lust as he began to apply his tongue, warm and wet, a foreign sensation and one that made me doubt that this really was his first time.

As he gained confidence, licking from base to tip with surprising ease, I couldn't stop watching him. Eyes shifting from the task at hand to me and then back again, the fingers wrapped around my cock that moved in time with his tongue, the small hitching of breath as he took the tip in between parted lips.

_This was more than a vague idea._

The moan left my throat before I could stop it, his tongue flattened against my cock, he brought his other hand up to dig fingernails into my chest again, my back arched at the mixture of pleasure and pain. He was quickly causing me to come apart and he'd barely touched me.

"S-Shun..." I whimpered as he took more of me in his mouth, a hand now firmly holding my waist in place so I didn't accidentally choke him. He locked eyes with me, desire pooling in the dark orbs, he hummed in approval, sending vibrations through me which only made me moan again, louder and needier.

My hand flew to his head, threading my fingers through the raven-coloured hair, I needed him to hurry up or else I'd not last much longer. He didn't seem fussed, barely speeding up at all and just taking a little more into his mouth with each bob of his head. The feeling of his lips gliding up and down with little effort and tongue flicking over the tip was quickly becoming my undoing, heat was building in my abdomen and I didn't know how much longer I'd be able to hold on.

Without warning he pulled away, a trail of his saliva and my precum leaking from his mouth, his hand enclosed my cock as I whimpered at the loss of heat. He licked his lips and watched me as I breathed heavily under his touch. I just wanted release at this point, my chest was rising and falling rapidly as his strokes increased in speed, the tightness and heat inside me only grew as he kissed and bit my neck harder than before.

"What do you want?" he breathed, twisting his wrist slightly and drawing a high-pitched whimper from me that I didn't think was possible. I couldn't speak, I could barely keep my eyes open as he kissed my ear lobe and repeated the question, this time in a more demanding tone.

"Y-You." I gasped, my hips bucking up into his hand to gain more friction.

"Say it." He demanded, twisting his wrist again and nipping at the sensitive skin on my ear. "I want you to say it."

I swallowed, barely able to form one word let alone a complete sentence as he pumped me even faster.

"Junpei." he used his free hand to grab one of my nipples and squeeze. "Say it."

He was in total control of the situation and I fucking loved it.

"I-I want you." I moaned, he let out a breathless laugh and ran his thumb over the head of my cock.

"To..." he murmured, backing away and dragging his nails down my chest again, pausing in his strokes as he moved back down to where he had been.

"T-To make me cum." I didn't care how needy I sounded, there was only one thing that mattered anymore.

He took me in his mouth almost entirely on the first go, his slicked up fingers moving to cup my balls as he went about it at a much faster pace than before. I let out a filthy moan, feeling myself brush the back of his throat. He swallowed around me and it only took a few more pumps for me to be sent over the edge, loudly moaning his name repeatedly and my entire body shuddering.

I was vaguely aware that he kept sucking and licking as I came down from my high, when my voice returned to me I could barely say anything above a whimper.

"And that's my revenge." he told me as he helped clean me up. "Not only do you have a huge mark on your neck but you have no voice."

"Fuck you." I croaked. "I didn't even have a dick in my mouth, how the _fuck_ are you talking normally?"

He smirked and shrugged. "Have fun with explaining it all to the others."

"And what about you?"

"Hm?"

"Aren't you..." I reached between his legs expecting to find him hard. He blushed and bit his lip, shaking his head as I found a slight dampness.

"...y-you're really hot when you moan." he confessed, blushing even deeper.

I almost didn't believe him but there wasn't a reason not to. Instead I pressed my lips to his cheek and drew him into a hug, breathing in his scent. We both reeked of sweat and sex, despite not having any, the night was drawing on as we relaxed a little more.

"And if that was a _vague idea_ then I'm really fucking curious about what you're going to do with any more knowledge." I remarked, getting up to go and have a shower before giving into the temptations of sleep.

He laughed, his voice was unchanged and it annoyed me, I was barely able to speak at a normal volume without a crack or whimper.

"Seriously." I called, pretty much drawing him into the bathroom. "There's no way you didn't research how to do half of that."

He bit his lip and shrugged, leaning on the door frame as the water started running. "You really think I spent all my alone time on the internet looking for puns?"

"Not after that I don't!"

He laughed. "I could teach you a thing or two _captain_."

Those words sent a shiver down my spine. "Not tonight Shun." I replied, the exhaustion catching up with me. "Besides, I'm gonna have to get you back for this." I gestured to my neck which was now sporting a dark red mark that was rather noticeable, at least in the bathroom mirror it was.

"You sounded like you enjoyed it." He remarked, repeating what I had said to him this morning in the same situation.

I said nothing, the blush returning quickly. The water in the shower was hot and I was severely tempted to drag him in with me. He seemed to follow my train of thought as he backed me against the glass wall, I could still vaguely taste myself on his lips as he kissed me.

"Do you want me to leave you to it?" he asked, perfectly innocent.

"I thought I had to 'earn it'." I asked, raising an eyebrow and watching him turn red slightly.

"I-I mean..." he had been caught out. "I may have changed my mind."

He was such an idiot sometimes. Maybe he was just so caught up with this new relationship that he didn't know whether to be dominant or not.

"I love you." I murmured, kissing his forehead.

"I-I love you too." he replied. "And seriously do you want me to leave or not? Cause I don't mind--"

I rolled my eyes and playfully slapped the back of his head. "This'll be your third today..."

"So that's a no?"

"Did I say it was? Just get in the fucking shower or get out of the way already."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus fact: I intended to write this entire fic in third person but halfway through chapter one I defaulted to first person.  
> I never actually intended to write a fic from Hyuuga's POV but it just seemed to flow better so there you go!  
> The more you know!


	8. The Mark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter kinda went all over the place, I was setting up for the next chapter whilst also trying to keep things light-hearted.  
> (Next update should be on Thursday)  
> As always, thanks for reading/leaving kudos/commenting!  
> My life is literally revolving around this anime and the two fics I'm writing for it x3

"So how _are_ you going to explain it?" He asked, I stood in the bathroom poking and prodding the rather purple mark on my neck as I examined it in the mirror.

"I don't know. It's pretty self explanatory." I sighed, I would have to accept that this would put a lot of rumours to rest but also create a lot of new ones. "Unless you have any bright ideas?"

"One." He uttered, walking out into the lounge. I wondered what one earth he was up to when I heard him talking on the hotel phone to someone. "Kise-kun? Yeah it's Izuki, can we ask you for a favour?"

"Who's this _we_ that you speak of?" I called, wondering why the fuck he was calling Kise of all people right now.

He ignored me and carried on the conversation. "Yeah, well it's gonna sound weird but I'll explain when you get here..."

I tuned out the rest of the phone call, trying to come to terms with the rest of the team knowing that not only we were a thing but that I let him mark me. There was a small bright side to this; we wouldn't have to hide it from everyone. Of course there would be a lot of jokes and the inevitable question of 'who tops?' would be asked...a lot...

"Hey do you have the time? I'd check my watch but I can't keep my eyes off you." He remarked, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing the back of my neck.

"Oh don't start with those cheesy one-liners, I'd rather have you making puns."

"Oh really?" He giggled.

"Why the fuck did you call Kise?"

He laughed again, warm breath hitting my neck as he squeezed my waist. "He'll be able to help."

"I very much doubt that..."

Sure enough, a few minutes later the blond was at our door, looking confused but upbeat all the same. Izuki practically dragged him into the bathroom before he could say anything. It took a whole three seconds for his gaze to fall on my neck and then the questions started.

"Senpai, what...wait...that's a--" He broke off, a hint of redness in his cheeks as he looked from me to Izuki and back again.

"We know what it is!" I almost snapped, too embarrassed to really be angry. "Apparently you can fix it."

A light-bulb must've gone off in his head because then he reached into the pocket of his jacket and revealed a small bag. "So _that's_ why you told me to bring the make-up?"

I shot Izuki a glare but Kise was already starting to babble on about how easy it was to fix this. Opening the bag and taking out a few small bottles and a thin brush of some sorts.

"I know 'cause I had the same problem when Aominecchi--" he stopped, going slightly redder and coughing loudly. "Anyway, here's what you do."

He opened the first bottle, I vaguely paid attention to what he was doing but Izuki actually seemed to be watching carefully, which was a good thing if he was going to keep leaving marks all over me. The process of cold liquid being smudged on my skin took little over ten minutes, Kise commenting the entire time about how many bruises he's had to cover for various photo-shoots and how many times he had to help his sisters with similar problems. He spared us any awkward questions until afterwards.

"So just don't get it wet or else it'll wash off and by the way, how did that even end up happening?" He asked, putting all the bottles back into the small bag.

"It doesn't concern you." I uttered.

"Thanks Kise-kun." Izuki murmured, trying to imply that the blond should leave now.

"What's stopping me telling Aominecchi?" He raised an eyebrow and smirked.

My blood went cold. He had a good point, for someone who was dumbed down a lot he didn't half know how to spot an opportunity when he saw it. I sighed heavily and couldn't believe I was about to make a deal with a rival team's ace.

"What do you want?"

~*~

I still didn't believe what we agreed to do in order to buy Kise's silence. Summer vacation ended just after Aomine's birthday and Kise wanted to have an early celebration; cake and everything, with Kagami's birthday just one week  away the idea extended to both the aces being surprised. The only catch was that with the red-head not involved we'd have to bake the cake.

At least we had another few days to figure out how the hell that was going to work. Instead, we now had a different problem.

"We're going to a hot springs?" I asked for the third time as the team started walking out of the hotel.

"Yeah." Kiyoshi smiled, he hadn't said anything regarding the texts from last night and I wasn't about to give him a reason to.

"Why?"

Kiyoshi shrugged. "It was suggested last night and no-one else could think of anything else at the time."

Kise's warning about the make-up washing off was all too clear in my mind. It was sure to come clean in the springs, even if I didn't get it wet the steam would probably have an adverse effect to it. Izuki had been quiet about it all, laughing and joking around with the others whilst I had an internal crisis.

"Is there a problem with that?"

"N-No."

Kiyoshi took me by the arm and forced me to stop, the rest of the group carried on without us. He waited until they were out of earshot before letting go of me.

"There's something going on." he stated. "Isn't there Hyuuga?"

I was panicking, how the hell did he know? I know we weren't subtle but there was a fine line between being suspicious and out-right stating something.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I lied, not directly looking at him, that was my first mistake.

"And I don't believe you."

"Well, why do you think there is?" I had to try and figure out how to get out of this mess before it all blew up.

He raised an eyebrow. "You've always been close to Izuki, childhood friends, team-mates, class-mates..."

I sighed, wondering why the others hadn't noticed that we weren't with them and also why any of this was important to him.

"I just notice the glances and the lingering touches, it just seems like you're a thing and he did practically serenade you last night."

_he did a lot of other things last night_

"I-uh. Well." I coughed. "We're just having fun with our friends, there's no harm in it."

He shrugged, simply smiling and gesturing for us to catch up with the rest of them. There was no way that he was satisfied with that answer but there were other things on my mind. We reached the onsen, everyone was in high spirits at the idea of just relaxing in the warm water, I became aware that I had a bigger problem than originally thought. With the others rushing ahead, towels barely wrapped around themselves, I inspected my neck in a mirror. Kise's efforts had paid off so far, I took off my shirt and my eyes widened.

"Those weren't there..." I uttered, tracing the two smaller marks near my stomach. "Fuck sake Izuki."

"You called?" He chimed, bumping shoulders with me, his towel loosely wrapped around his waist. I thought I was the only one in here.

"Yeah baka, you left more marks than I thought." I sighed, pointing to the lighter bruising. His eyes travelled slightly further down my body before he looked away, blushing and trying to hide a smile.

"Sorry?" He replied, trying to suppress his laughter.

"Sorry isn't going to hide this!"

"Screw me if I'm wrong but you enjoyed it didn't you?"

"I'm going to kill you."

"That's good enough for me." He pulled me into a close hug, buried his face in the crook of my neck and sighed happily, still trying to suppress laughter.

I held him, it amazed me how easily he fit into my arms, it was like we were made for each other. My fingers ran down his back, maybe I could play off the mark for a bruise or something.

"We should get out there before the others start getting suspicious...again." I remarked. "Kiyoshi is already poking his nose into things as usual."

He pulled back a little before kissing me slowly, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Try not to stare too much." he mused.

The rest of the team and the two rival aces were already soaking their muscles in the water. It seemed like no-one had noticed our absence. Taking as little time as possible, we joined them, no-one made a comment but Kise did widen his eyes slightly at me from across the pool. For once it was quiet, hardly anyone spoke at first as we were all just enjoying the warmth and the peacefulness, leaning back against the dark stones that lined the pool of water, steam rising and the sound of the water feature in the background.

It was only a matter of time though before someone said something stupid.

"We should play strip poker at some point." Aomine remarked, sloshing water at Kise half-heartedly.

"Is that how badly you want to see Kise naked?" Kagami replied with a smirk from across the pool.

"Eh? Kagamicchi! I'm actually quite good at poker, although Kurokocchi is much better..." Kise declared. "And why would you assume Aominecchi wants to see me naked?"

The rest of us watched Aomine go slightly red before he sighed and looked at me. "Senpai, you still have some of that sake right?"

I wanted to say no but they all knew that there were at least two bottles left. "Yeah...why?"

"Perfect! We play strip poker later and get drunk whilst we're at it."

"Gee what could possibly go wrong? Cause it was such a _great_ idea last time..." I sighed, giving Izuki a glance. He merely smiled and slumped lower into the water to hide his blush.

"I mean, watching Kise and Kagami swap clothes was hilarious." Koga chirped, proceeding to start swimming across the pool to Kise, splashing water as he went. I had to shield my neck from the water for fear that the evidence of last night would be revealed.

"And a certain person occupying the bathroom for half the morning." Kiyoshi added, looking at both Izuki and I.

"Well as long as no-one get stupidly drunk...we should be fine." Kagami scoffed.

"We're not having it in our room. Someone else can be responsible for this chaos." I was putting my foot down with this one, I was sick of having to host these activities. That was the evening sorted, even if I wasn't totally in favour of the idea.

It was hard for me to relax fully, the paranoia of getting my neck wet was overpowering any attempt to do so. Izuki seemed trouble-free however his voice was starting to give out slightly, gaining me an unwanted glance from Kiyoshi as the point guard coughed for the fourth time.

"Something wrong senpai?" Fukuda asked.

"Nah, it's probably just the steam." Izuki replied, waving off the first year. "Or maybe I've been making too many puns..."

"That'll be the day when you admit that..." Tsuchida remarked dryly, laugher ensued.

Conversation turned back to the evening's plans, it became apparent that we'd need more than two bottles of alcohol if Aomine's plans were to be fulfilled. As I had no knowledge of how we ended up with any in the first place it fell to the ace himself to sigh loudly and agree to source some. The day passed quickly and quietly, so far I had managed to avoid washing off the make-up, even with Koga splashing around.

A game of rock-paper-scissiors decided whose room we'd be trashing that night, I had never seen Furihata look so terrified when he lost to Kise. With that sorted, Aomine dragged Kise out of the pool to go and get more alcohol, leaving us with a time to meet in Furi's room. The rest of us started speculating how much Riko was gonna beat our asses when she found out about this - it was a forgone conclusion that she would.

"I think it'll be fine. As long as no-one gets injured and our bodies stay in reasonably good condition." Kiyoshi assured us. "She's probably guessed that we'd be doing next to no training."

"How do you know?" Kawahara asked, shoving Koga away from him as the second year floated on his back. "Like, you seem to know a lot about coach."

I knew the reason, so did the other second years but it was seldom spoken of. It felt satisfying to see Kiyoshi struggle to find the words to explain, even if it also made me feel slightly guilty.

"We dated for a while." He eventually replied.

Kagami widened his eyes like the rest of the first years, even Kuroko seemed shocked. I averted my gaze, knowing the story behind the break up and also how it affected the team when it happened.

"What happened?" Furi asked. "--if you don't mind saying senpai." he hastily added.

Kiyoshi shrugged. "Things just didn't work out. She was our coach after all, some people seemed to think she'd favour me over other players and it was tough on her."

I nodded, remembering some of the comments in the hallways that we overheard. I also remembered walking home with Riko just before it all fell apart, hearing how she felt like she couldn't be his girlfriend and our coach at the same time.

The rest of them were quiet, probably feeling bad for asking.

"I might ask her out again after we graduate." he added.

I smiled slightly, as much as he annoyed me sometimes he was still my team-mate and friend. I wanted him to be happy and if that meant dating Riko then I had no problem with it, besides I had more important matters in my heart. Izuki yawned from beside me, I playfully hit the back of his head which caused him to start spluttering and coughing again. It broke the tense atmosphere at least.

"Can you _not_ die please?" I sighed, wrapping an arm around his shoulders to make sure he didn't end up drowning.

"I'm _dead_ -sure that it'll take more than that to kill me." He remarked. I nearly changed my mind about him drowning. After a few seconds he recovered, I didn't withdraw my arm though.

The others started to talk about getting out to leave, with the hotel not too far away we didn't really _have_ to walk back together. Furihata and Tsuchida left first, claiming that they had to clean their room a bit before the poker started, Kawahara and Fukuda elected to walk back with them. It didn't take long for the others to also leave, I'm pretty sure they planned it from the start and would be watching from the bushes somewhere with Kuroko's camera.

"So...we're alone finally." Izuki whispered, shuffling closer to me. "Thoughts?"

"Strip poker is only going to end badly for us." I remarked, resting my forehead against his. "As in, most of our team is going to end up nearly naked."

He laughed. "I don't think I want to see that, especially drunk."

"I'm actually really bad at poker."

"I'll probably just use my eagle eye." He stated nonchalantly.

"You can't cheat Shun!"

"Sure I can Junpei, especially if it means I can get you naked quicker."

"I'm already naked baka."

"I've noticed."

There was no point trying to hide the blush, he kissed my cheek. "Hey, so can I ask you something?" I asked.

He tilted his head slightly and smiled. "Sure, what's on your mind?"

"How are you so confident about...doing things...like you said it was a first for you but--" I lost my train of thought as he stared at me with thoughtful eyes. "like...you're just so _good_."

He chuckled slightly. "I'm not actually that confident..." he sighed, shifting so he was sat facing me, his fingers tracing my bicep as he continued. "It's just that you weren't so...I just went for it I guess."

I raised an eyebrow, so that was how it was gonna be then.

"I'm just gonna assume that by that logic...you're still a virgin." I whispered, just in case someone _was_ listening in.

He nodded slowly, not really fazed by my question but the brush creeping onto his cheeks said otherwise. "A-And you?"

"Yes...I mean you were the first one to go down on me so--heck I've never even been with anyone before, you know that."

He tried to suppress his laugh. "I was just asking. Another question though..."

"Hm?"

"I'm assuming, by your logic, that you asking me that means you have a better idea for tonight?"

He smirked as I sighed. "Stealing my phrases huh...and yeah maybe I do."

We were a few inches from each other within seconds, feeling his breath across my neck as one of my hands dipped under the water. If we were caught now then there'd be no way to blag our way out of it. He let out a small gasp as I gently stroked him, not looking anywhere but his flustered face as I curled my fingers around the base of his cock.

"Ju-Junpei...are you really doing this _here_?" He breathed, blushing a deep shade of red.

"Not entirely..." I replied, withdrawing my hand before things got too heated. "It's just me getting my own back for this _wonderful_ mark on my neck."

He was almost beyond words as I kissed his neck. "...bastard." he cussed.

"You'll be saying a lot more than that before I'm done with you." I whispered in his ear, nipping at his ear lobe. "Now come on, we need to get to get going otherwise god knows what they're gonna say."

Just before we got out he took my face in his hands and kissed me, bumping noses and exhaling slightly. He pulled away, giving me a nervous smile.

"Sorry, I just...yeah."

"Don't turn into that apologetic mushroom from Tōō." I sighed, resting my forehead against his. "I love you, remember?"

"I love you too." he whispered.   


 


	9. The Strip Poker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I wrote the entire first draft of this chapter whilst drunk.  
> I have no regrets.

Strip poker, poker where for each round the person who lost the heaviest removes one item of clothing. Apparently the rules had changed slightly.

"So this is your way of saying you don't want to end up losing to Kurokocchi?" Kise asked Aomine when he brought up the rule change.

"S-Shut up Kise." Aomine replied. "I just think this'll make it more interesting."

"Wait, so you want it to be like three of these weird games combined?" Kiyoshi asked, we were all a little bit in the dark as we sat around Furihata's room. I didn't want to consider how bad this was going to get once the glasses were filled.

Aomine sighed before launching into his explanation. "So, we play poker. You all with me so far?" He asked with a grin, Kagami nearly hit him for being so smug. "The person who loses the heaviest then either has to strip, do a dare or take a shot."

"A shot of sake?" Fukuda asked.

"Oh _no_." Aomine grinned, nodding to Kise who proceeded to reveal a different bag to the one that held the sake. "The Russian stuff."

"Vodka?! How the fuck did _you two_ get hold of vodka?" I exploded.

"Details senpai..." Kise remarked, a glint in his eye. I kinda didn't want to know now, it probably involved some bribery of some sort.

"Either way, vodka shot for the loser if they really don't want to get naked." Aomine finalised, placing the first bottle on the table. "Just to spice things up a little."

It was such a bad idea, most of the team didn't seem fazed, they didn't seem overly enthusiastic either but at the same time this was almost like a rite of passage for us. I turned to Kuroko with a sigh.

"Make sure coach doesn't see these photos."

"You think I was going to show her?" he smirked, that alone unsettled me, then the question of what he _was_ doing with these photos came up but I didn't even want to know at that point. Aomine demanded we all took a shot just to get things moving, Kiyoshi and I exchanged unsure glances but we let it slide as the plastic glasses were filled. Someone was bound to stay sober...I hoped.

"Question, we have something to clean up spills with right?" Tsuchida asked as Kise very nearly wasted half a bottle onto the table. "Cause I'm not explaining anything to housekeeping."

We searched the room for any and all boxes of tissues, it wouldn't be perfect but it would be easier to dispose of before the next morning. Once the three boxes were placed on one of the beds we all sat on the floor around the large table in the centre of the lounge, thirteen shots glasses filled with the colourless but pungent liquid were lined up.

"So, may the best player win." Aomine declared, staring right at Kagami.

The stakes were high, if either of the rival aces won then our reputation as a team would suffer. Would I be able to look the other captains in the eye if we lost? The thought of Imayoshi's smug grin flashed through my mind just before I downed my shot, there was no way in hell I'd give him that satisfaction.

This was actually the first time a lot of us had tasted vodka. It wasn't pleasant. I shivered as the sting hit my taste buds and rippled through my body, the rest of them had a similar reaction but it got the fire in our chests going. Kagami stared back at Aomine with a grin, Kise was radiating a more devious aura as he set his glass down.

"What are we betting though?" Kiyoshi asked as the deck of cards were shuffled. "Not money."

Aomine and Kise exchanged smirks. I wanted to know how much of this they had planned in those hours away from the rest of us.

"We bought some chips." Kise told us. "Cheap and tacky but they'll be enough."

They had indeed bought some chips, a few stacks got divided up between all of us so we had enough to play with, they told us the colour didn't matter and that the only reason we were using them is because poker was all about bluffing - something I had a feeling I wasn't going to be good at.

"So." The blond spoke loudly, taking the now shuffled deck from Kuroko. "Who's dealing?"

~*~

Vodka seemed to work quickly. Very quickly. Most of us were at least shirtless at this point, not really fazed, we were however getting dangerously close to ending up in our underwear. Furihata had chickened out and taken his forth shot, the poor first year seemed out of it already and that would only get worse.

"You could say, he wouldn't _dare_ to pick a dare." Izuki remarked as the cards got dealt out again.

"Do you think he makes less puns when he's drunk?" Kagami asked.

"We should find out." Aomine replied, grinning at our point guard. "You're going down next round."

Izuki merely raised an eyebrow. "If you say so..."

The conversation earlier about him using the eagle eye sprung to mind as I stared at my cards. It wasn't a great hand but it wasn't a terrible hand.

"Who the fuck dealt these cards?" The Tōō ace sighed, glaring at Koga who had in fact dealt 'those cards'.

"Aominecchi you're not meant to say out loud if you're annoyed." Kise provided unhelpfully with a smirk.

"It's called bluffing baka!"

I rolled my eyes and waited to see what the rest of the team would do this round, I rarely raised the bet on the account I wasn't _really_ sure how to play. The three aces all knew what they were doing and Izuki and Mitobe seemed to have a basic grasp so they had been playing havoc, that left the rest of us making snap decisions and reeling from the consequences. Which was working _so_ well for some of us.

The round played out. I hazarded a glance at Izuki, he leaned back lazily on one hand as he glanced around the circle, he didn't seem put out at his hand but he didn't seem overly confident.

Kuroko won. Again. He was actually the only one who wasn't shirtless yet.

"How the fuck do you keep doing this?" Kagami asked the phantom.

"Tetsu was always good at poker." Aomine sighed. "Although our captain always won, he always came second or third."

"Okay who lost?" Kise asked, pouring another shot.

A glance around the cards on show made us all look at Izuki, he didn't look too amused and just stared at the grinning Aomine.

"Told you that you were going down." He smirked, gesturing to the shot glass. "Strip, shot or dare."

"Right." Izuki picked up the glass. I tried not to watch him swallow, his adam's apple bobbing and a small drop running down his chin.

It was after this that things got a little out of hand. Kagami took one of the bottles of sake - we hadn't opened any of them yet as we were still getting used to the poker rules - opened it and poured it into some of the larger glasses.

"New rule." He stated. "Everyone drinks after each round, the loser takes a shot of vodka as well. Fuck the whole stripping thing..."

Aomine and Kise approved, everyone did what we were told. That was the start of the slip into the depths of hell. Round after round we all drank a little, the loser taking a shot, the whole 'dare' concept had been largely forgotten too until Kise brought it back with a bang. He had just lost heavily, his pupils blown wide with the extensive drinking.

"Fuck it!" He sighed loudly. "Aominecchi, give me a dare."

The blue-haired ace smirked. "Strip."

"Aominecchi!" The blond seemed mortified, his cheeks are flushed red, he was barely clothed as it was.

"Do it or drink dumb-ass."

Kiyoshi, who was somewhat sober still, waded in. "You don't have to go naked."

"Why the fuck not?" Aomine barked, he was drunk but he still held the control.

"We get it dude, you wanna see him naked already..." Kagami dryly stated.

"You shut up!"

"Or what?"

Kise sighed dramatically and stood up, legs wobbling slightly. "F-Fine!"

The blond took his fidgeting fingers to the belt around his shorts. His hair hid his eyes from view as he finally got it unfastened, Aomine watched with hungry eyes, yeah there was something going on behind those eyes and I didn't want to know. Kise pretty much threw his shorts down, I averted my gaze whereas Aomine certainly didn't.

"Happy?" Kise slurred, picking up the vodka shot anyway. "Aominecchi?"

Kagami slapped the Tōō ace around the back of the head, spurring a string of cuss words and a few more slaps. The cards were dealt again. This time Koga lost, the dares were brutal and it was always Aomine coming up with them so it was only right that we were hesitant of picking them. Nevertheless, Koga picked a dare, staring the ace down from across the table.

"Furi, do you have any ice?" Aomine asked.

Furihata shook his head, still able to comprehend _most_ things said to him.

"Great, someone go and get some ice from the machine."

Tsuchida nodded and went to fetch it, we all took another shot at Kagami's request - determined to not be outdone by his rival. When the ice bucket was bought back Aomine ordered Koga to place three ice cubes in his underwear and keep them there until they melted. Even I winced slightly as he sat down again, he kept making uncomfortable noises as Kuroko dealt out cards again. By this point poker was just serving as a distraction from the horror of being told to take a dare.

~*~

"Hey Hyuuga. You lost." Kagami stated the obvious. I felt this sense of dread wash over me.

"Yes." I murmured. Izuki was drunk, this was a well known fact, in fact most of us were drunk. I was clinging to my last strands of sobriety as Aomine thought up a dare. Kagami leaned over and whispered something in the other's ear.

A wicked grin stretched across his face. This was going to be bad.

"Beg the person on your left to spank you." He told me.

The person to my left. Left. I looked to my left, of course it would be Izuki. I felt both horrified and excited. Aomine and Kise just smirked, they couldn't know, there was no way. Koga was still in minor discomfort from his dare so he was very little help, Kiyoshi was far more interested in whatever drunk Mitobe was trying to say and the rest of them were borderline passed out. Kuroko started dealing another round, ready for whenever the game would begin.

"Take a shot if you need to _captain_." Kagami remarked, I was going to get coach to triple his training when we got back just for this incident alone.

"A-And what if I don't wanna?" I slurred, annoyed by his remark and trying to back out of this dare.

"Then we'll let Izuki do whatever he wants to you." Kagami replied before the other two demons could, so much for the strip or shot option. I knew for a fact that letting Izuki do what he wants when he's drunk would be an even _worse_ idea. Kagami must've caught on to this so quickly because he was smirking again.

"F-Fine. But you're gonna regret this _bakagami_." I narrowed my eyes at him.

Izuki raised his hand just before I started to go through with this stupid dare. "Can I actually spank him?"

I nearly slapped him, god dammit this boy was going to be the death of me.

"I-I mean, If you want to." Kise slurred, pretty much leaning on Aomine's shoulders. "We ain't gonna judge."

Without hesitation I downed both my shot glass and Izuki's that were filled with vodka. God knew I needed it when my dignity was about to slip from my fingers. This team wasn't ever gonna let me forget this stupid night.  
 He gazed at me, a small smirk forming on his lips. He was going to enjoy this far too much and I was going to murder him if he laughed at this situation. I placed my hands together in front of my face and sighed.

_Just get it over with._

"...Izuki." I stated, trying to keep whatever composure I still had. His smirk grew a little and I resisted the urge to hit him. "...p-please spank me."

"More detail senpai~" Kise called, Aomine and Kagami laughed.

I gritted my teeth. "Baka..." I sighed, focusing my eyes on Izuki, he was blushing slightly but still smiling. "I want you to spank me--"

"Details!~"

"--so hard that I won't be able to sit down tomorrow..."

"More!"

"And that I'm screaming your name."

The three aces hooted with laughter. Izuki raised an eyebrow and licked his lips slightly. Oh he was so gonna get it later. The poker was abandoned shortly afterwards. We drank even more, Aomine thought of more and more incriminating dares which eventually resulted in Kiyoshi running down to the hotel pool and jumping in fully clothed. That was a hard one to explain to hotel management.

Izuki got a dare finally. I silently celebrated that maybe he'd get some of his own medicine. Aomine was still being the dare-master, with Kagami and Kise encouraging his ideas.

"Say something dirty to the person on your right." Kise blurted out before the three of them could decide.

Izuki stammered but eventually took a shot and leaned closer to me, almost kissing me in the process. "F-Fuck me Junpei...fuck me _hard_ " he whispered, breath tickling my neck.

I must've been blushing hard, heck I could _feel_ my body react to his demand. Everyone wanted to know what he said but I refused to say. It got worse as the drinking continued. He'd glance at me, eyes lit up with the buzz of alcohol and something else...

"Kagami!" Aomine called. "You have a dare."

The red-head froze, waiting for the other two to decide on something.

"Okay, so you must take a shower with the player of your choice." Aomine declared. It was obvious he was drunk but without someone completely sober to take control there was little we could do.

"What?!" Kagami exploded. "A shower?!"

"Yes, now pick someone and get it over with." Kise remarked, arm wrapping around Aomine's shoulders. "Or else."

"Or else what?"

"Just do it."

Kagami looked at Kuroko. Kuroko blinked and shrugged. Out of all of us gathered, he was probably the most sober or at least he _seemed_ to be.

"We'll continue without you~" Kise informed the pair as he left them in the bathroom.

Like hell would we. With Izuki looking more and more like he was going to strip me down there and then, I told the others that we had reached out limit, thankfully the idiot agreed with me and stumbled to his feet. Aomine and Kise seemed put out but let us go, I overheard someone saying 'and we won't hear from them til the afternoon' but I was far from caring.

~*~

I shoved him against the door as soon as it closed. Lips attached to his neck as his hands ran up and down my back, he giggled and sighed as I kissed his neck, lightly biting and sucking marks that he'd have to hide tomorrow. We stumbled into the bedroom, fingers and lips ghosting over each other's skin.

"Junpei..." he sighed as I leaned over him, pressing open-mouthed kisses to his chest as he led on the futon.

"Are you sure about this?" We were both far from sober but enough of my mind had remained intact to get consent.

"Mmm...yeah." He replied with a giggle.

"Shun..."

"I am..." he slurred, tossing his head to the side and sighing.

I didn't slap him _that_ hard, but it was enough to sober him up for a second. "Shun. Do you want to have sex?"

He blinked, eyes still diluted but he seemed grounded for a few seconds. "Yes. I meant what I said earlier." He replied before letting out a breathless giggle. "I want you to fuck me..."

Hearing those words from his lips was enough to satisfy me. I kissed his neck again, biting just like he had done to me. He moaned loudly and ran his hands through my hair. I kissed and bit my way down his chest, drawing this out was not my priority right now.

His hands ran down my back, clawing it effectively. I gasped and left a mark on his waist in revenge, sucking and biting the tender skin as he cried out with a mixture of pain and pleasure. A sound I'd be getting used to this evening. I returned to his lips, roughly kissing him, tongue and teeth clashing in the collision. He was sighing and moaning repeatedly as I made my way back down his chest, my hands holding his waist in place as he tried to buck up against my own waist.

"Patience." I growled, squeezing his waist. "You'll get it soon."

"Mm...Junpei." he murmured. "Please..."

Who would've thought that such a composed player would be rendered to a begging wreck with a few bites and kisses. The control-tower of Seirin was far from in control.

"Soon..." I replied.

I helped him out of his shorts, easier said than done as we were both still pretty tipsy. I could see his excitement even with his boxers still on, I placed a hand over it, pressing slightly and hearing him moan loudly. We were gonna get a noise complaint at this rate.

"P-Please..." He whimpered, hands thrown above head on the pillow. "Please Junpei."

I wasted no time, any insecurities I had about doing any of this were abandoned as I licked him through his boxers, eliciting a higher pitched moan from him that turned me on even more than having him spread like this in front of me. He bucked his hips slightly, desperate for any friction I'd grant him.

"Now now..." I whispered, licking him again before hooking my fingers under the waistband. "Patience."

He whimpered, stilling as I slowly slid his boxers off, he was bigger than I thought he would've been but that was of little concern, he was already leaking precum as I took him in between my lips. He let out a load moan, cheeks flushed red and breathing heavily.

I flattened my tongue like he had done, using one hand to wrap around the base of his cock as I started bobbing my head up and down. I couldn't let him cum so easily, no, I had other plans for that but it didn't hurt to start off like this.

That was when it struck me.

"Hey, do we have any lube?" I asked, releasing his cock from my mouth.

He raised a hand and vaguely gestured to his jacket that had been discarded earlier. I reached inside the pocket and found a small bottle. I didn't want to know when or how he had gotten this, I was just thankful that he had enough sense to do so.

"Okay." I breathed, more to myself than him. I took him in my mouth again, giving him a few more pumps until he was moaning obscenities repeatedly.

"F-Fuck..." He whimpered. "Junpei...fuck me..."

"I will..." I breathed, opening the bottle and slicking up a finger, the buzz from being tipsy was wearing off as we continued. "But I gotta prepare you first."

He nodded, cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red than I had ever seen. "Please.."

With one hand trailing down his chest, distracting myself as well as him, I gently pressed my index finger into him, a short and harsh gasp left his lips. I froze for a few seconds until I heard him inhale and exhale heavily before pressing in further, he was tight and I knew I had to be gentle. After a while of gently thrusting I added a second finger, he moaned slightly and arched his back, this was going to take a while but I was okay with that, his comfort was at the forefront of my mind. I wanted our first time to be as painless as possible.

"More..." he whimpered. " _more_..."

I nodded, kissing and lightly biting his inner thigh as I added a third finger, my other hand was now loosely wrapped around his cock to balance out the pain with pleasure. With three fingers inside of him my own cock was beginning to feel neglected. I pushed that thought from my mind, focusing on his little moans and gasps as I began to curl and flex my fingers with each thrust.

His moans were getting louder, I stopped pumping his cock and moved so we were face to face, kissing him deeply, still thrusting my fingers inside him slowly. He moaned into my mouth, biting down on my lip.

"What do you want?" I asked just like he had done, thumb circling one of his nipples.

"For you to f-fuck me." he stammered, looking at me with lidded eyes. "To feel you i-inside me."

So this was the submissive Izuki, surprisingly coherent too. I smirked slightly and kissed his neck. "As you wish."

I removed my fingers, he whimpered slightly as I ridded myself of my clothes and lubed up my cock, it was somewhat bothersome that we didn't have a condom but it wasn't the end of the world. Just as I lined myself up with his entrance I kissed him again, softer than before.

"Are you sure?" I asked, most of the alcohol had lost its grip on me at the sight of him spread before me again, the buzz and adrenaline remained though.

"Yeah.." he breathed. "I'm sure."

"You can say no at any-time." I told him, cupping his face and forcing him to look me in the eye. "Just say so."

He nodded, kissing me again, hands coming up to tangle in my hair. I slowly pressed myself into him, he shut his eyes and moaned slightly. I knew it probably hurt so I restrained myself, waiting for him to tell me I could move. His hands then moved to my back again, drawing circles and dragging nails across my shoulder-blades. After a few moments of nothing he nodded and whispered for me to 'keep going'.

I still kept a cautious pace, not wanting to hurt him but wanting to hurry things along a little. Pressing slowly into his wonderful heat, if him going down on me was such a foreign sensation then this was just out of this world, feeling him take me in and clench down on me with each movement sent sparks through me.

"F-Faster..." he murmured, fingers digging into my back. I adjusted my hands either side of his head so I could lean on them as I snapped my waist forward. He cried out as I fully buried myself in him, foreheads bumped and his legs wrapped around me.

Sweat clung to my back as I slowly increased the pace, he moaned a little louder each time, I was going to have marks all up and down my back at the end of this. He felt so good, wrapped around me, moaning beneath me, fingers digging into me. One of my hands wrapped around his cock again, stroking him and pulling more obscenities from his lips.

"Fuck...Junpei... _fuck_." he nearly cried. I actually had to place my other hand over his mouth, he would need gagging at this rate.

"Shh..." I hissed, snapping my waist forward again, I was trying to find that one spot in him, it was proving difficult as he'd distract me with his perfect moans and fingers running over my ass.

"Make me." He uttered against my hand, gazing up at me with mischievous eyes.

That did it. I pulled out and forced him onto his stomach, pulling up his ass before pressing myself all the way in without warning. I succeeded in pulling the filthiest moan from him. I had more control from here, he had to focus on keeping his head form being buried in the pillow rather than clawing my back whilst I could thrust into him and almost lose myself in the sensation.

"Junpei..." he moaned, steadying himself on his elbows.

"Y-Yes?" I panted, running a hand through his hair and pulling his head up.

"...fuck.." he sighed, a smile tugging at his lips as he looked back at me.

I took that as an instruction, gripping his waist as I increased the pace, pushing against him as much as I allowed myself, feeling his heat around my cock but reminding myself that this _was_ our first time. That thought was discarded as he let out a loud and positively whorish moan on one of my thrusts.

"You liked that huh?" I hissed, pulling almost all the way out and slapping his ass harshly.

" _p-please..._ "

I pushed in again, the same spot, the same speed. He cried out, head dipping between his arms as he begged me repeatedly to fuck him. My hand moved to stroke him in time with my thrusts, both sensations causing him to unravel under my touch.

"Please...please..." he whimpered, actually pressing back against me. I didn't know how close he was but I knew I couldn't keep this up for much longer, the tightness, the heat, just how _good_ it felt buried inside of him. It was unreal. I leaned down, changing the angle of my thrusts ever-so-slightly, and bit his shoulder. He whimpered, pressing against me, he was leaking precum all over my hand but I didn't care, I kept stroking and thrusting into him until I felt him fill out in my grasp.

"Cum for me Shun..." I hissed in his ear, roughly pressing as far into him as I could. He let out that filthy whorish moan again, cumming all over my hand and the sheets under us, his body shuddering and clenching around me. I fucked him through his orgasm until I felt the heat in my abdomen override me. Spilling inside him with my own lewd moans and gasps.

Time passed, I slowed down, running my hand down his back as I pulled out. He was panting, I was breathing raggedly. I couldn't quite see straight but I registered that the sheets were now filthy. He was still on his knees, coming down from his high with pants and small gasps.

"H-Hey.." I murmured, gently easing him onto the other futon. "Come here."

He whimpered and curled up against me, pupils blown wide with euphoria. He let out a breathless giggle as I attempted to clean us up as best as possible, both over-sensitive to my touch but still in one piece.

"Junpei.." he breathed as I settled back down and pulled the covers over us.

"Yeah?" I whispered, brushing a few strands of his hair from his eyes and gently pulling him closer.

"...I love you."

"I love you too." I replied. "Are you okay?"

He smiled weakly. "Might not be able to sit down for a few days..."

"What a tragedy."

"I know, people might assume I've been fucked."

"I'm pretty sure they've all placed bets on it."

"Speaking of which."

"Hm?"

"When do I get to fuck your brains out?"

"Not now."

"Later?"

"Shut up."

"It's _only_ two in the morning."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Events in this chapter loosely inspired by my own college party antics.  
> I haven't written detailed smut like this in a while so apologies if I'm a little rusty.  
> Next few chapters will be a lot fluffier so...yeah
> 
> *Also the age of consent in England (where I live) is 16 and apparently in Japan it's 13 (with some legalities that I'm ignoring) so technically speaking...this isn't underage sex...just stating that now*


	10. The Cake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early update as I'm gonna be busy for most of tomorrow.  
> As always, thanks for reading and if you have any requests just just a comment below and I'll do my best to fit them in. :)

He looked so peaceful as he slept, I ran a hand through his hair. He murmured slightly and shuffled closer to me. The memories from last night were fresh in my mind like the marks on both my body and his. I didn't want to think about moving from this room, even if it did smell of sex,  not from his warm company. I kissed his forehead, savouring the moment. He had one arm slung across my waist, effectively trapping me here regardless of my wishes.

I would've given anything to stay with him forever in that moment, just having him so close to me, so intimate yet so innocent.

"J-Junpei..." he breathed as he awoke, coming to terms with what he could remember, blinking in the dim light of the day.

I didn't want him to be concerned that we were both naked, we were both exhausted afterwards and I had only been awake for a few minutes by this point.

"Hm?" I murmured, lightly stroking his cheek.

"...we...we had sex." he uttered, looking up at me, eyes a mixture of confusion and content.

"Yeah..."

He was silent for a few moments, my heart was in my throat as he ran it all through in his probably hungover mind.

"...can we do it again?"

I let out a breathless laugh. "You really are something else."

He smiled, nuzzling his face in my neck. My head hurt a little, so did most of my back actually. He would wince occasionally as he moved closer to me, I didn't want to ask but at the same time I felt responsible for it.

"How are you feeling?" I murmured, slowly running my fingers through his hair.

"I ache." he replied. "I ache all over..."

"You asked me to fuck you." I remarked, pressing a kiss to his forehead again.

He blushed slightly. "Y-Yeah...I just..."

"Hm?"

"...I kinda..."

I looked at him, he wasn't upset by what I could see, there was something on his mind though. "What is it?"

He bit his lip slightly. "I did want you to fuck me yeah...I just want to make love too..."

The words bore into my brain, 'make love'. I could understand, slow, sensual, sweet nothings being whispered.

"Okay." I murmured, pressing a kiss to his lips. "We can make love, just say when."

His eyes widened. "Y-You...you mean it?"

I really wanted to slap him for his idiocy sometimes. "I love you Shun, why the fuck wouldn't I mean it when I say I want to make love to you?"

He smiled, exhaling lightly. "I love you too Junpei." I wrapped his arms around me, fingers running up and down my back. I dreaded to think what my back looked like, it didn't feel like he drew blood but then again he had dug his nails into me with some force...

"We should get up...someone will show up eventually and I want to have a shower before that happens." I mused, just the thought of any of _those_ idiots showing up any second now made me sigh heavily.

It didn't take too long to get to the shower, I could feel my back stinging under the warm spray of water, it didn't help that I had Izuki in the tight space with me. He distracted me from my pain with a light kiss. When I asked him how bad my back looked he coughed nervously.

"You did _not_ leave loads of marks did you?" I uttered, pressing him against the tiled wall. He had his own mark to deal with on his neck, although not as noticeable as mine.

"I mean..."

"Shun..."

"It's not _that_ bad..."

"I don't believe you."

"You gotta _ball-ieve_ me!"

With a heavy sigh, I eased his legs apart with my knee. "If you make another pun today I'm going to punish you." I growled in his ear, hand trailing down his chest and lightly stroking him. "And I'm not going to tell you _how_ but just know that you'll be begging for me by the end of it."

He swallowed, nodding as I kissed the skin underneath his ear, sucking a small mark as he moaned under my touch. The water continued to sting my back and it eventually led me to stop touching him and actually try to figure out _how_ bad it was.

They weren't as noticeable as I had feared, the faint criss-cross of lines over my shoulder blades would be there for a few days, they hurt more than they looked.

"Let me." He whispered, getting me to turn around. His fingers ghosted over my back, I hissed slightly as he kissed each mark. As much as it hurt, just knowing he was sorry for it made me feel better.

Slow, smooth movements eased my sore muscles. I rested my head against the glass panel as I lost myself in how his fingers glided over my skin. He pressed his lips to every mark repeatedly, arms wrapping around my chest, fingers splaying over my stomach. I covered his hands with my own, exhaling as he finished kissing my back and leaned his head on my shoulder.

"Better?" He murmured.

"Mm...a little." I told him. "I'll be okay. How are you though?"

He laughed, moving to adjust the shower controls. "I'll be fine."

We finished up in the shower, got dressed and then tried to figure out how we were going to cover not one but two marks on our necks. Calling Kise was out of the question, he'd either be asleep or severely hungover, heck calling any of them would end horribly.

"Wait..." I suddenly had a potentially catastrophic idea.

"What?"

"Coach."

"...but she'll...she'll want to know how it happened." He murmured from the couch. I sat next to him and took his hands in mine.

"Shun, I know you don't necessarily want to tell everyone...but let's face it, they all pretty much know." I spoke softly. "We're not exactly subtle."

He smiled and gazed at me, I reached up and brushed a few strands of hair to the side before my hand slid to cup his face.

"They won't hate us." I continued. "You know they won't, they're our team-mates, our _friends_."

"I just don't want to be treated differently..." he whispered, covering my hand with his. "I don't want them to think any less of us."

I nodded, I couldn't force him to come out but at the same time I could only evade the questions for so long.

"Let's take it one step at a time." I told him. "Next time someone asks...we'll tell them okay?"

He bit his lip, a little unsure at first but nodded before burying his face in my chest. I wrapped my arms around him and held him tightly. We'd figure this out, somehow some way we'd figure it out.

~*~

It was mid-afternoon when the knock at the door surprised us. We hadn't moved from the couch, simply sitting there together talking about anything and everything we hadn't had a chance to yet, trading light kisses back and forth.

I sighed heavily, draping a towel around my neck to both hide the mark and make it seem I just got out the shower. It was Kise.

"Hey Hyuuga!" He greeted, he seemed bizarrely cheerful.

"Kise..." I replied, adjusting my glasses. "What do you want?"

He raised an eyebrow before pretty much inviting himself into the room. "We need to plan the birthday party of course~"

Ah yeah, that thing.

"Right..." I sighed, closing the door and following him into the lounge. Izuki smiled at him as he sat down. "Birthday party."

"So, Kurokocchi will drag the two of them out of the hotel for the day tomorrow - he wouldn't tell me how just that he would." Kise explained, his eyes flicking between the two of us excitedly. "This means that the rest of us can set up my room for the evening celebrations!"

"So where does the cake come into things?" I asked, this was going to be more of a headache than I realised.

"Oh! Yes, you, me and Izuki will go to Kiyoshi-senpai's room and bake the cakes. I think Mitobe and Koganei agreed to help as well. The others will be decorating the room, we'll have it all done by the evening!"

I didn't want to ask but I had to. "So...what exactly is planned for the evening?"

"Well we have no more alcohol." He sounded disappointed. "So I think we'll just do karaoke and maybe play cards again."

I breathed a sigh of relief, no more drunken shenanigans. Kise continued to babble on about what the cakes should be like, which flavours the two aces preferred which then turned into the last time Kise threw a party for a member of the Generation of Miracles. Apparently Midorima hadn't been amused by the five of them showing up at his house in the middle of the night with no notice.

"Also do you want to borrow my make-up bag again?" he suddenly asked, so it hadn't escaped his attention after all...

"I-uh..." I was lost for words, Izuki stared at the floor as the blush crept over his face. Kise smiled at us in a friendly manner. He was only trying to help.

"I'll level with you." his tone changed, the happy-go-lucky voice was now more serious as he propped himself up on his elbows. "Pretty much everyone thinks or knows that something is going on. At this point you're both delaying the inevitable. It's nothing to be ashamed of, heck I'm sure you've both picked up on me and Aominecchi have something going on."

His words were a little comforting. I nodded, it hadn't escaped my attention at all, I just hadn't commented on it.

"I don't know your team-mates that well, other than Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi." He continued. "But they seem like a close group, they won't shun you or anything. Just be honest with them, they'll appreciate their captain showing his trust in them."

He sounded like he was speaking from experience but I couldn't be sure.

"Thanks Kise..." I uttered.

"I won't say anything, but everyone's pretty much come to the same conclusion anyway."

I showed him out before going back to Izuki, he had been silent since Kise's demeanour changed and it was worrying me. I knelt in front of him and cupped his face in my hands.

"Hey...talk to me..." I spoke softly, noticing the tears that were welling up in his eyes.

He shook his head, unable to speak.

"Kise is right, they won't think any less of us."

"It's not th-them." he breathed, on the verge of sobbing.

"Who then?"

"Our parents."

The thought I had buried, the idea of telling my parents about this had terrified me but I had to try and assure him that this wasn't as bad as it seemed. I knew his parents were quite supportive, they wouldn't react as badly as others, one of his sisters already knew and she hadn't shunned him either.

"It'll be okay." I told him. "We can wait to tell them, we'll take this one step at a time remember?"

He nodded, gripping my arms as I pulled him into a hug. I couldn't describe how I was feeling really, I considered him not just my best friend and boyfriend, he was someone I wanted to protect from as much hurt as possible, to take all his pain and worry away, heck I'd even shoulder the burden for him if I could. I didn't want the fear of rejection or change to scare him like this, I wanted him to be happy.

~*~

He slept in my arms that night, pressed close to me in the darkness. I slowly kissed him awake the next morning, he snuggled closer and sighed heavily. I don't think either of us really wanted to get up. His lips pressed against mine, soft and sleepy, I threaded my fingers through his hair lazily.

"Morning." he whispered with a small smile.

"Morning to you too." I breathed.

"When are we meant to be baking?"

"Hell if I know...I'm just assuming they'll fetch us."

He let out a muffled laugh, pressing himself against me. "Well why bother moving until then?"

I liked that idea, with a sigh I wrapped my arms around him tighter, feeling his steady heartbeat as we led there. The sounds of the outside world were muffled but the chatter of other hotel residents could be heard. We fell asleep again, so content in each other's presence that we didn't need to keep up a conversation.

Loud knocking from the door spurred us awake, he reached for his phone and we realised it was nearly noon. I scrambled to the door, opening it to find Koga and Mitobe.

"Hey Hyuuga!" Koga greeted cheerily, his eyes fixed on my neck and I could've died there and then. The mark had faded sure but there was still an outline that could be seen.

"H-Hey." I replied. "So I guess you're on your way to Kiyoshi's?"

Mitobe nodded with a gentle smile. Koga seemed a little lost for words.

"Uh, we slept in so we'll be along shortly okay?" I explained, trying to not let an awkward silence fall.

They both nodded, I sighed heavily as I shut the door. Well now I had done it. I told Izuki what had happened as we got dressed, he seemed a little nervous now, especially as we pretty much had matching marks on our necks.

"It'll be okay. I-If you want I can do all the talking?" I had to believe in myself now, Izuki needed me to be strong for him even if I doubted my own words slightly.

He gave me an unsure smile. "I'll be okay. It's our team after all..."

We stood outside Kiyoshi's room, just before I knocked on the door I took Izuki's hand in mine, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He squeezed back, as I raised my other hand to knock on the door. Kise answered the door, he took one glance at our hands before smiling and letting us in. Kiyoshi had actually booked his room himself and actually got one with a small kitchen, Koga and Mitobe were already there and pouring over the pile of ingredients.

The Iron heart himself nodded in greeting, leaning against the doorway to the bathroom. Izuki squeezed my hand, I smiled at him, I wasn't sure how I was meant to go about this. Thankfully Kiyoshi seemed to notice and brought up the topic for me.

"So are you two a thing now?" He remarked, gaining the other's attention.

Izuki went red within a few seconds, I couldn't help but smile at his reaction. "Yeah, we are." I told them, squeezing his hand. "Although I'm pretty sure you all knew that already."

Kiyoshi chuckled. "We had our suspicions." he admitted. "But we're happy for you two, just don't let it affect our Winter Cup chances."

Koga and Mitobe nodded in agreement and Kise smiled. I sighed in relief, Kise was right after all, our team wouldn't think any less of us.

"Now we have two cakes to bake and only five hours left, we should probably get on with it." Kiyoshi declared.

"Why are we baking and not just buying two?" I asked, the pile of ingredients didn't seem to go together in any way, god knew what we were thinking of doing with a pineapple.

"It's the thought that counts~!" Kise remarked. "It'll make it extra special if we make them both."

After a bit of arguing we settled on a relatively simple chocolate cake which we could ice and a pineapple-upside-down cake. Surely we couldn't mess this up. Well apparently we could. Three eggs were smashed on the floor, flour was _everywhere_ and we had hardly managed to mix any of it together yet. We eventually divided the work between the six of us; Kiyoshi, Koga and Mitobe were working on the chocolate cake whilst Izuki, Kise and I made a start on the pineapple cake.

"If you were a fruit, you'd be a _fineapple_." Izuki remarked, slicing the fruit up with ease.

"Shut up Izuki." I sighed with a smile, trying not to pour sugar over the floor along with the half a bag of flour that was already there. Someone thought that having the radio on in the background would be a great idea but it was just proving to be a distraction for Kise.

We lined the pan with butter and sugar, carefully placing a whole slice of pineapple in the middle before surrounding it with layered half-slices. It wasn't looking half bad. Setting that aside, Izuki set about whisking the flour and remaining sugar with the baking powder. Kise was now dancing and singing around the small kitchen.

" _We're happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time  
It's miserable and magical. Oh, yeah_ ~"

Kiyoshi simply laughed as Koga abandoned beating the eggs to join in.

" _I dunno about you, but I'm feeling twenty-two!_ "

I rolled my eyes, more karaoke, fun. Izuki snuck a kiss to my cheek as he passed the bowl to me so I could continue whisking.

" _Everything will be alright  
If you keep me next to you~_ "

Mitobe was dragged into the chaos that was Kise and Koga dancing, I almost felt bad for him. Kiyoshi was pretty much left to finish off the chocolate cake preparation, I went through the rest of the recipe with Izuki somewhat helping. He found out that I was ticklish so he was taking great joy in nearly sabotaging the entire cake.

"Am I walking on thin _icing_ yet?" He asked with a giggle.

"No but I'm going to _beat_ the crap out of you soon." I replied, brandishing the whisk at him.

His face lit up. "Junpei you made a pun!" He threw himself in my arms, the whisk brushed against his cheek and left a line of sugary paste but he didn't seem to care.

I silently cursed myself for falling into his trap. Although his adorable smile made me blush slightly, knowing that he loved puns so much and that I rarely made any...it was probably a dream come true.

"At least you're getting the mixture sorted." Kiyoshi remarked as I shook the smaller boy from me in the most loving way I could. "I think I've lost those two."

" _Everything will be alright if we just keep dancing like we're 22, ooh-ooh~_ "

Before I could finish mixing the rest of the ingredients together I felt a something greasy touch my cheek.

"You're my _butter_ half." Izuki grinned, holding up the stick of butter.

"Izuki--"

"You make my heart _beet_."

"I swear--"

"I love you _berry_ much."

I took his face in my hands and kissed him, Kise practically died at the sight. Izuki giggled into the kiss as I released him.

"Shut up before I gag you with something." I whispered, resting my forehead against his.

"What a _pun_ ishment that would be."

"That's it!"

" _It feels like one of those nights, we ditch the whole scene_  
_It feels like one of those nights, we won't be sleeping~"_ Kise sang as I silenced Izuki with another kiss.

~*~

Despite the delays caused by impromptu dancing and Izuki's constant puns making me want to throw flour in his face, we got both cakes baked in time. The icing was a far messier ordeal than anticipated, Koga's hands got covered in chocolate icing, Izuki tried to 'help' and only succeeded in getting himself covered. Kiyoshi and Mitobe were eventually in charge of getting the cakes prepared, I had to clean up my two team-mates in the bathroom whilst Kise went to check on the decorating.

An hour later we carried the cakes down to Kise's room, we got there to find the room moderately decorated. It was tasteful; balloons were littered throughout the room and a banner had been stuck on the wall above the beds. Someone had gone to Maji burger and bought back an impressive amount of food all still bagged up to keep it warm.

"I just got a text from Kurokocchi~" Kise declared as we set the two cakes down. The pineapple-upside down cake had turned out pretty well, the chocolate cake had been iced and Mitobe used blue and red icing to write happy birthday on the top, lining the outside of the cake with candles.

"When will they be here?" Kiyoshi asked.

"He said they just left the street-ball court so they'll be back in about ten minutes."

With a little co-operation from Tsuchida we got the candles lit, Kise turned out the lights so that only the candles could be seen in the dark room. We didn't have to wait long before we heard the key in the lock.

"Wha--" Aomine froze in the doorway, Kagami and Kuroko peeked over his shoulder in confusion. "Kise?"

The tanned teen flicked the lights on and we all jumped up cheering. Aomine looked confused and Kagami smiled.

"My birthday isn't until the end of August baka." Aomine complained to Kise who had pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"I know~" The blond replied. "But we'll be getting ready for the second term so I thought I'd throw you and Kagamicchi a party here instead!"

"Wait this is my party too?" Kagami actually seemed surprised considering his birthday wasn't for another two days.

"Why else would I have spent the entire day with both of you?" Kuroko asked with a small smile.

"Hey! You make it sound like you don't like spending time with me."

Kuroko just smiled a little wider, something we weren't quite used to seeing. It was nice to see the two of them bringing out the best in each other.

"Are you two gonna blow out the candles or what?" Kise suddenly asked, pointing towards the cakes.

"...you guys made these?" Kagami asked as he inspected them. Kise babbled on about the entire afternoon's events, mainly to do with how much of a mess we left in Kiyoshi's room.

"--and of course, those two being adorable."

"Wait what?" Aomine asked mid-bite.

Kise just pointed to Izuki and I, the two aces glanced back and forth between us before exploding into an argument.

"You owe me ¥ 900!" Kagami exclaimed.

"Bullshit!"

I chose to not ask, Izuki seemed just as bewildered. We shrugged it off and continued eating cake. It didn't take long for Kise to demand that the karaoke begin, with the cake all gone and the food from Maji burger mostly devoured there wasn't much opposition.

"Try not to slaughter anything again." Aomine sighed as Kise scrolled through his phone to find something to sing.

"You're so mean to me Aominecchi!" the blond complained, lightly shoving the other.

"Funny, you were saying the opposite last night."

Kagami coughed loudly as Kise blushed. "When you've both finished." He uttered.

There was a bit more bickering between them all, I just sighed and ruffled Izuki's hair as the rest of us just listened to the comments being thrown back and forth. Eventually they'd agree on something but for now I was just content to relax, enjoy the atmosphere and not be paranoid about my actions towards Izuki. Everything was perfect.

 


	11. The Fever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was actually a requested scene (and I've only gone and forgotten who requested it - I'm so sorry)  
> Anyway, this pairing is going to be the death of me soon.

After a few hours of karaoke, trying to process that _yes_ Kuroko kissed Kagami halfway through Koga singing uptown girl and _yes_ Kise and Aomine were a thing, we had decided to get more food. This involved Izuki and I being sent to the local store to find whatever we could, sushi seemed like the best idea.

In hindsight, it was a bad idea. The weather that day hadn't been a concern but we _really_ should've taken a jacket. The rain hadn't bothered us at the time, we figured it wouldn't be too much of a problem, that was until the hotel locked the main doors - it _was_ after eleven so we didn't blame them - so we were stuck outside for a good twenty minutes whilst we waited for Kiyoshi to find someone to let us in.

Then of course we had to immediately go back to Kise's room to deliver the sushi, of course there were remarks about us taking longer for various reasons and being drenched as a result. We laughed it off, not bothering to walk all the way back to our room just to change and then return. That was also a bad idea in hindsight.

"You're shivering senpai." Furihata murmured to Izuki, he was indeed shivering. It was getting late so we left, telling them to text us when the next day's plans were decided.

I kept an arm around his waist as we walked more or less in silence, pressing a kiss to his temple as I unlocked the door. The first thing I made sure he did was get out of his still damp clothes and take a warm shower, putting my own needs aside and focusing on him.

"What's with the _frosty_ expression?" he asked, I stood in the bathroom waiting for him to finish showering.

"Just thinking about how we should've changed as soon as we got in." I sighed. "Knowing your immune system you're gonna catch a cold now."

"Pah...that was a middle school thing." He remarked. "Haven't gotten sick since last spring."

"Exactly, you're probably gonna catch a cold _now_ of all times."

"Nah..."

I knew he'd get sick. It was typical of him, all through our time at middle school he would catch colds, suffer headaches, lose his voice - not that anyone minded the last one. He was right in that he hadn't fallen ill since last spring but that was probably just a fluke, I didn't believe he'd manage to slip past this one.

~*~

A sneeze woke me up the next morning, it was barely light enough to see anything. I groggily reached for my glasses, granting me better sight of whatever was happening.

"Junpei..." he groaned, he was sat up and sounded rough.

"Is this where I get to say I told you so?" I remarked, getting up and turning on the light. He winced in the brightness, his face was tinted pink, nose resembling a cherry and he looked up at me with sleepless eyes.

"Nng." He replied, sniffing loudly with a tiny smile. "I guess?"

I sighed heavily, I was in for a fun day then. The clock on my phone said it was a little past four, with room service not available for another two hours I'd have to try and get him to sleep more.

"So where does it hurt?" I asked, crouching down to his level and putting my hand to his forehead, he was burning up quickly.

"My head." He uttered, trying to smile again but sneezing instead.

I looked around the room, surely there was another cold pack from earlier this trip lying around. Whilst I looked for it I told him to go and blow his nose in the bathroom, he nodded and slowly got himself to his feet. It was just a cold, he'd be over it in a day or two.

Or at least that's what most people are like, no when Izuki gets sick he gets _sick_ and I could never tell how long it would take for him to return to normal .

"Junpei..." he called from the bathroom, I had just found the cold pack under a bundle of clothes.

"Are you dying?" I called back, trying to keep things light-hearted.

There were a few seconds of silence. "Yes..."

Nice to hear his sense of humour was still there. I rolled my eyes again and went to investigate, he was staring at his reflection in the mirror and sniffing a lot.

"What?"

"I look like Rudolph." He murmured.

"Right..."

"I guess I light up your world." He smiled.

"None of your puns today, you're sick Shun." I remarked, sounding vaguely like my mother. "Come on, back to bed."

"Only if you cuddle me..."

I nodded, ruffling his hair and taking his hand. "Of course."

He led down and let me put the cold pack on his forehead, he then snuggled close to me under the blanket as I sent a text to Kiyoshi informing him that our idiot point guard was ill so we wouldn't be around today. I kissed the top of his head, rubbing his back as I tried to get some more sleep myself.

We only slept for another three hours, I woke up first though. His breathing was laboured, concerning me slightly but not enough to warrant waking him up. The fever had subsided a little but he looked like death. It tugged my heartstrings slightly, wanting him to feel better already but knowing it would take an entire day at least until he was able to leave the room. I checked my phone, Kiyoshi had replied with a short message of encouragement and told me to take care of myself as well as Izuki.

I eased his hold on me, making sure to wrap him up in the blanket before leaving to call room service, I ordered soup for him as well as requesting they provide some more cold packs. I took the time to grab a quick shower, absent-mindedly aware that I could get sick if I wasn't careful. When the food arrived I bought one of the tables into the bedroom so he wouldn't have to leave bed and set it all out for him.

"Shun..." I murmured, kissing his cheek. "Wake up..."

He moaned slightly, opening his eyes slowly as I gently ran a hand through his hair.

"Come on babe...you need to eat."

"...did you just call me 'babe'?" he asked with a weak smile, nice to see where his priorities lay.

"...I-I did." I murmured, I must've picked the term up from Kagami, it seemed so foreign to say it but it just slipped out before I could think about it.

"...you should do it more often." He slowly sat up, looking at the steaming bowl of soup. "Looks good."

I nodded, still a bit flustered. Before I let him eat I checked for a fever again, it was going down slowly. I watched him eat, wanting to kiss him but I was worried that I'd almost certainly get sick too. He watched me intently, draining the bowl and smiling a little wider than before.

"Thank you." He uttered, setting the bowl down.

"For what?" I asked, snapping out of my thoughts about his lips.

"Taking care of me." He replied, moving to lie back down.

I smiled, moving the table away from the futon. He let me put another cold pack on his head before settling down to no doubt sleep for another few hours, thankfully the sneezing seemed to have subsided for the time being.

"I'm gonna go and get you some actual medicine okay?" I told him. "I'll be gone for like half an hour max."

"Oh-kay." He sighed. I moved to get up but he grabbed my hand. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Babe." he whispered with a small smile.

I felt myself blush, he closed his eyes and released his grip, I kissed his cheek before getting ready to leave.

~*~

He was still asleep when I got back, I didn't have the heart to wake him just yet so I decided to call Riko and see what she thought, knowing full well I was about to get yelled at.

"Who gets a cold in the middle of summer?" She asked. I sighed as I stood on the balcony, trying to not disturb Izuki with the phone call.

"He does." I told her. "And the sad part is that I'm not even surprised."

She berated me for being so careless with the Winter Cup preparation only a few weeks away before taking a softer tone. "So how is the vacation going?"

I had to tell her, she was one of my closest friends and our coach. "Well it's been pretty much non-stop chaos...Aomine and Kise are here too so you can imagine the rivalry spilling into anything we do."

"Please tell me that Kagami is keeping himself under control."

"Don't worry, Kuroko is very good at grounding him." I smirked, looking up at the clear sky. I couldn't figure out how to word it.

"And the rest of the team?"

"Good, I think it's been a valuable experience." I uttered, my mind somewhere else.

"And you?"

She knew something was going on, she knew me _too_ well if she had picked up on my vagueness. It was now or never, if I didn't tell her now then who knew how she'd react to finding out through the others.

"There's something I need to tell you." I replied, leaning against the sliding door and staring towards the ocean. "It's kind of important."

"Hmm? You're scaring me slightly." I heard the sound of a chair creaking, she was probably sat at home drawing up training plans and preparing for the second term.

"I-It's nothing bad!"

"Junpei..." She uttered. "What is it?"

I exhaled heavily. "Izuki and I are dating."

There was a silence, I closed my eyes as I waited. The sound of paper shuffling was all I heard before she finally replied.

"Okay...so that means you're both..."

"Yeah."

She giggled slightly. "I mean, it took you both long enough."

"R-Riko!" I exclaimed. "How did...when did you--"

"You think I'm only a coach..." She sighed, I could hear the smile in her voice. "I know you guys better than you think..."

I had to laugh at that, she was right, even if it was a little concerning that she had known for a while. We idly talked for a while, conversation turning to what regimes she was plotting for our return. I told her about the various things we had done - leaving out just _how_ much we had been drinking - and remarked about how weird it was to see the three rival aces getting along so well.

"Well when you think about it, it's not that weird." She remarked. "Kagami is pretty much on their level, plus him and Aomine do seem to share certain personality traits."

I hummed in response, a muffled voice from inside drew me out of my thoughts. "I gotta go, I think Izuki's awake."

"Tell him that him being sick now means he can't fall ill during the Winter Cup!"

I laughed and ended the call, that went better than expected. He was awake, looking a lot better than at four am this morning. A hand pressed to his forehead confirmed that his fever was down again, he smiled at me and pulled me down on top of him.

"Shun--" I spluttered, steadying myself on an elbow either side of his head.

"Shh..." He whispered, stroking my cheek.

I stilled, watching his sleepy eyes wash over me. "H-How are you feeling?"

"Better." He murmured. "Much better."

"Good..." I leaned closer to him and pressed my lips to his cheek. "So I told Riko."

His eyes widened slightly but his warm expression didn't fade. "Oh really."

"Turns out she pretty much already knew."

"Figures..."

"You're not mad?"

He shook his head. "One step at a time remember?" He smiled.

After a few more kisses I backed away and got the medicine out, he grimaced as he swallowed the no doubt foul tasting liquid. He swore up and down that I owed him for that, I pointed out it still probably tasted better than coach's cooking. We both laughed before he sneezed loudly.

"See this is why I made you take it." I sighed, passing him a tissue.

"S-Shut up." He uttered, blowing his nose.

"The captain's always right."

"Bullshit."

I raised an eyebrow as he giggled, the slightly higher pitched laugh to normal melted my heart. It showed he was feeling better, I just had to wait for the puns to arrive to prove he was back to normal. He crawled into my arms and sighed.

"Do you think it's weird that it took us to get drunk to realise we liked each other?" he suddenly asked. My fingers trailed up and down his thigh as I thought.

"It's slightly unconventional I guess."

"And that for all these years we've been friends...we never considered being more until now."

"It wasn't exactly planned you know." I remarked, kissing the top of his head. "Not that I'm complaining."

He sniffed. "I know, I'm glad it happened though."

"What, us getting drunk?"

"No, me falling in love with my best friend."

Hearing him say that made my heart flutter. "I'm glad it did too."

~*~

"You know, orgasms cure headaches." He remarked.

"Right." I sighed. "And I suppose you're going to say you have a headache now."

He rolled over, nuzzling my neck as he giggled. "Not right now."

I laughed, holding him close to me as I stared at the ceiling. "Good, because I'm not doing anything like that until you're well again."

He sat up, looking down at me and biting his lip slightly, he really had perked up in the past few hours of cuddling and short naps.

"...Junpei?"

"Hm?"

"When I'm over this cold..." He murmured, moving to straddle me, mirroring my position from earlier, and face a few inches from mine. "Can I make love to you?"

I reached up and cupped his face, stroking the smooth cheekbone with my thumb. "Y-Yeah."

He smiled. "You mean it?"

I nodded, returning the smile. "Yeah."

I allowed him to lightly kiss me on the lips, warning him that if I got sick because of him then Riko would probably kill us both. He simply laughed and led down on top of me, clinging to me like a koala bear.

Koga called, Izuki was asleep again so I answered in a hushed tone as the point guard was still attached to me.

"What?" I whispered.

"Hey captain~ How's Itzuki?" he asked cheerily.

"Better, he'll probably be fine by tomorrow." I replied. "What did you guys do today?"

He told me how they wandered around the local market, picking out little souvenirs and gifts for their families, then he told me about a local festival taking place tomorrow.

"So if Itzuki is feeling well enough we could all go!" He finished, I winced at how loud his voice was. "What do you say? Kise and Aomine will be tagging along too so it'll be fun."

I looked at Izuki's peaceful face, I hadn't noticed before how his mouth curved into a smile as he slept.

"Hyuuga?"

"Ah-yes." I uttered. "Um, well it'll really depend on how he is in the morning."

"Well it doesn't start until the afternoon."

I told him I'd let them know in the morning, ending the call and then thinking that I should probably call for another meal delivery. The idea of going to a festival with my friends was certainly an attractive one, the music, the food, the fireworks...just spending time with them without a care in the world. It was definitely an idea I could warm up to quickly.

He stirred a while later, mumbling words as he buried his face in the crook of my neck. My thoughts were quickly rushing to what our lives would be like back at school, I couldn't see him wanting to be overly affectionate in public, and dodging around each other's parents would only last for so long.

Heck, as much as I hated to entertain the idea, if our parents disapproved then god knows what would happen.

I shook that last thought from my mind, his family were understanding people and so were mine ...for the most part. We'd get through this, come hell or high water we were going to stay together, we were going to win the Winter Cup with our team and become the best in Japan. I'd do everything in my power to make it happen.

 


	12. The Festival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being over 5,000 words somehow...(most chapters are 3,000 - 4,000 so this is longer than usual)  
> Also I pretty much wrote it all today (hence why the update is later in the day than usual) because I stupidly stayed up on skype until 5am and THEN realised I hadn't finished it...so there's that as well.  
> Also these two will be the death of me one day.  
> Ah well~

"Junpei~" His soft voice called, I had no idea what time it was but I felt _hot_.

"Nng." I uttered, rolling over slightly. "What Shun?"

His hand ghosted between my thighs, lips skimmed my jaw. "Wake up babe." He whispered as he licked the shell of my ear.

My eyes flew open, it was definitely morning.

"What?"

He smiled, well at least he was feeling better. For someone with a shitty immune system, he certainly knew how to bounce back. His fingers stroked my exposed stomach, slow and smooth.

"It's nearly ten." He told me. "We should eat."

I raised an eyebrow, not totally buying his reason. "Eat huh." I sighed, sitting up and kissing him lightly. "So you're feeling better I take it?"

He nodded, cupping my face and kissing me again, lips parting mine slightly and tongue tentatively slipping between them.  "Much better." He breathed once we parted.

I put my hand to his forehead just to make sure, his fever had disappeared and his nose wasn't resembling the reindeer's anymore. So we got up, I showered whilst he called Koga to tell him we were joining them that afternoon for the festival, he slipped into the cramped space without me realising, only the sensation of his lips on my back alerting me to his presence.

"Have you been taking lessons from Kuroko about scaring the crap out of me?" I asked, casting a glance over my shoulder at him.

"No." He murmured, kissing the back of my neck, hands drifting around to run down my chest. "Just felt like surprising you."

I took his hands in mine and coaxed him to stand in front of me under the spray, his head fell back as I kissed an nipped at his neck. Small gasps tumbled from his mouth as I slipped my hands further and further down, stopping just below his stomach, fingers drawing circles on the soft skin.

"You're so beautiful like this." I whispered, his cheeks flushed red as he swallowed. "And no-one else gets to enjoy the view..."

He let out a small moan, tilting his head to kiss my neck in response.

"I love you so much." I told him.

"I love you too." He breathed.

With the rest of the day ahead of us we finished up in the shower, taking the time to trade more kisses back and forth. He kissed each of the marks on my back, apologising again for hurting me. I told him I didn't mind, he shook his head as we walked down to the hotel lobby to meet up with the rest of them.

"I still feel bad." He sighed, hand squeezing mine. "Do they hurt?"

"I mean, does your ass still hurt?" I asked, nearly laughing at how red his face got.

"I-uh-I mean." He stammered. "Kinda but--"

"Well I should be apologising for that."

He pouted slightly. I had to look away because it was both adorable and amusing to see, when I looked back at him he smiled, still blushing slightly. I let go of his hand and wrapped an arm around his waist just before we reached the group of teens waiting for us.

"Sleep in again?" Koga remarked.

"He did." Izuki immediately answered.

"Oi!" I gave him a half-hearted glare.

"Well it's good to see you bounce back so quickly." Kiyoshi laughed.

"And who's to thank for that?" I added.

He at least had the good grace to seem flustered. "...yours." He sighed, over-dramatic as usual.

As the rest of them laughed at the back-and-forth comments, the birthday boy himself arrived with Kuroko at his side, there was a familiar mark on his neck that I just simply raised an eyebrow at. Aomine however announced it loudly.

"Tetsu you didn't!"

"He wanted me to."

"Kuroko don't say shit like that! On my birthday too!"

"Aw Kagamicchi got a present already!~"

"Shut it Kise!"

Kiyoshi shrugged, gesturing for the rest of us to get a head start on them, they eventually followed us as we set off for the festival. It was a small one held by the local community at the beginning of August, it resembled a more organised version of our school's culture festival but there was something more magical about it. The familiar smell of fried food wafted towards us as we reached the entrance, colourful stalls sat side by side each offering different snacks on sticks, red and orange paper lanterns hung from ropes above us. There were a lot of people already here - kids darting about between stalls, other teenagers on vacation, local families relaxing in the sunshine.

We agreed to all wander around at our own paces and meet up in a few hours to eat and watch the fireworks together. Having not eaten anything yet today it didn't take long for Izuki to drag me away to one of the many food stalls, Koga and Mitobe followed us, leaving the rest of them to fend for themselves.

"Hey look at this!" Izuki tugged me in front of a glass tank, live crabs were sitting in the water staring at us - it somewhat unnerved me. "It's rather _crab_ -tivating."

I resisted the urge to shove his face into the salty water, sighing heavily and rubbing the back of my neck instead. After a few seconds of him staring at the defenceless sea creature he was already tugging me to another stall. It continued like that for a while, Koga and Mitobe would sympathise with me but they'd also encourage Izuki's bad puns. We eventually managed to get some food, even after the barrage of wordplay.

"I don’t like peppers. They get jalapeño face."

"I'm gonna get up in your face if you don't quit it." I sighed. We had arrived at the dessert stalls, Kise and Aomine seemed to be engaged in a loud debate about how suggestive the blond could be about eating a chocolate-coated banana and how it wasn't fair on Aomine. Izuki went quiet, I was worried I had offended him but then I noticed what he was staring at; coffee jelly.

"Junpei..." he breathed, smiling at me. I couldn't help but smile back, he had found his favourite food and I wasn't about to keep it from him.

"Go on then, I'll pay."

His smile grew as I fished my wallet out of my pocket. "Really?"

"That's what a boyfriend's supposed to do?" I remarked. "Besides, you've been sick so you need something sweet."

He giggled, Koga and Mitobe exchanged glances as I gave him the small plastic carton and kissed his forehead. Koga nudged me in the side and winked, I rolled my eyes and swatted him away as we started walking again.

The day drew on, our fingers linked together as he'd pull me towards different areas, point out some of the pretty lanterns, even make a remark about 'that girl over there had her eye on you'. For the most part I lost myself in enjoying his company, watching his smile widen and the light in his eyes grow brighter, he'd continue making puns and I'd keep up the act of hating them - even if I did find myself laughing at a few of them which made his smile more.

   
~*~

The sun began to set quickly, we met up with the others on a hill overlooking the beach. A collection of boats and floating platforms dotted the darkening water preparing for the token firework show. We had enough snacks between us to last a few more hours as we relaxed on the grass.

"This has been fun~" Kise sighed happily, resting his head on Aomine's lap. "Kagamicchi did you enjoy your birthday?"

The red-head smiled, looking out over the bay. "Yeah, it's been good." He replied, looking back to us all. "Thanks guys."

"Don't mention it." Kiyoshi nodded. "It's been just as fun for us."

Izuki had demanded that I sat between his legs, he pulled me back to rest my head on his chest as he held my hands in front of me. He had been lightly humming a song I didn't know, pressing kisses to my cheek every now and then. The rest of the team seemed so content, it made me happy to think that just sitting in each other's company could feel so rewarding.

"We should do this again next summer." Furihata murmured. "Or maybe even go away this winter?"

"Hah, with the Winter Cup taking place? I don't think so." Koga chirped, nearly elbowing Mitobe as he sat up. "Coach would kill us."

"And I think my senpai would too." Kise added. "He'd probably handcuff me to him just to make sure I didn't run off." That was an amusing mental image.

"Still, we should do this again. Hey maybe even invite the other teams." Furihata continued. "I'd like to think we could put the rivalries aside for a week or two and just have fun together."

"Somehow I doubt Imayoshi would be a great addition to our roster." Aomine sighed. "Or any of the Tōō members other than Sakurai."

"The apologetic mushroom?" I asked, gaining a laugh from everyone including Aomine.

"He's not so bad. He has heart and the passion to play." The ace replied, running a hand through Kise's hair. "He's actually quite friendly."

We continued like that for a while, entertaining the idea of even getting Midorima involved. Izuki didn't really say much, he kept humming his song and even started mumbling lyrics as the conversations turned to ideal vacation locations.

".. _Our lives are made in these small hours...Time falls away but these small hours, these small hours still remain..._ "

I tuned out everyone else, focusing on his soft voice in my ear. I squeezed his hands slightly, rubbing my thumb over his palm.

".. _All of my regret will wash away some how but I can not forget the way I feel right now..._ "

I could feel each breath he took as I lay there enclosed in his embrace.

".. _These little wonders, these twists & turns of fate. Time falls away but these small hours these little wonders still remain_.."

"What song is that?" I asked abruptly, craning my neck so I could look him in the eye. He stammered and blushed slightly.

"I-I didn't realise..y-you were listening." He confessed. "Uh-It's called Little wonders."

I smiled. "I like it...I-I like hearing you sing."

He laughed slightly, burying his face in my hair and wrapping his arms around my chest. "Sh-shut up."

"I do though."

"Is Izuki-kun blushing again?" Kuroko asked, pretty much summoning all attention on us. I just laughed, knowing it would only make him blush harder.

"You could say that." I told him.

"Sh-shut up!"

"I've never seen him so flustered." Tsuchida remarked.

"Must be something Hyuuga said." Kiyoshi was just making it worse but I saw this as payback for all the terrible puns.

"Can't imagine what would render our vice captain so red." Kagami continued, they were clearly exaggerating but Izuki was just getting more and more embarrassed.

"Ooh do you think it was something dirty~" Kise egged on.

"Not all of our are as sexually frustrated as you baka." Aomine sighed, poking Kise's forehead.

"Aominecchi is one to talk!"

"You're both ones to be talking." Kuroko chimed, causing a wave of laughter to wash over us.

It was these moments that made me appreciate having these friends; people who brought out the laughter in us, made us forget about the mounting pressure of the Winter Cup, even making us forget that two of the people here were our rivals. Life wasn't all about basketball but I was more than thankful that we had all met through the game we all loved. Everything that had happened both on and off the court had led to us sitting on this hilltop watching the sun sink below the horizon.

He kissed my cheek, seeming to recover from his embarrassment momentarily. I rested a hand on his thigh, lightly stroking the skin exposed by his shorts. The others continued to bicker about something that had happened in middle school, a box of pocky got thrown into my lap by Fukuda without a word. It didn't take a genius to figure out what the intention was.

I leaned my head back, offering the snack to Izuki from between my lips, he looked slightly bewildered before smiling and gently taking the other end. This time it was far from awkward and clumsy. In a matter of seconds his lips brushed against mine, in the brief pause I could almost sense that we were being watched.

Although the angle was strange, I pressed my lips up to meet his. It was short and sweet but was enough for someone to comment on.

"Wait, does coach know about you two?" Furihata asked.

"Yeah, she's known all along. She knows us all better than we realise." I replied as Izuki leaned back on his hands.

"So...are you gonna be like this during practice too?" Kagami sighed.

We hadn't actually discussed it, I had thought about it many times and each time I came to the same conclusion - Riko would probably kill us and it could affect our game-play too much. I had to slip into 'captain mode' to answer, regardless of what Izuki wanted right now.

"Well we can't let it affect the Winter Cup." I sighed. "First priority is the tournament, we've worked too hard for it to go to waste now."

They seemed to accept the answer, I felt a slight pang of guilt though because we hadn't addressed it yet, I didn't know what he wanted me to say and I certainly didn't know how he was going to react to me pretty much stating that basketball was more important than anything else.

Darkness fell, we weren't waiting long though. The tell-tell sounds of fireworks filled the air, bright explosions of red and green light rippled across the sky, the water offering a mirror image on its surface. All conversation was abandoned as the minutes passed and more complex patterns formed in the night sky above us.

He eased himself to sit  next to me, leaning his head on my shoulder and tracing the veins on my arm as he took my hand in his. I kissed his cheek as his gaze fixed on the fireworks, he seemed slightly off.

"Sup?" I whispered.

He bit his lip and shook his head. "It's nothing."

"That's bullshit." I sighed, nuzzling his neck, my mind instantly flashed to the last thing I said. "D-Did I say something wrong?"

"Can I make love to you later?" He barely breathed against my neck. The topic change caught me somewhat of guard so it took a second for me to process what he said. He seemed so reluctant to ask even though I already said he could once he was well again...either way I was so glad the others couldn't see my blushing face as I nodded.

"Y-Yes...yes you can." I batted away the slight uncertainty that washed over me along with the arousal. This was going to be a _very_ different night with him.

~*~

When the fireworks ended we all walked back to the hotel, there were many suggestions of birthday sex for Kagami and it honestly wouldn't surprise any of us if they were acted on. There was an offhand comment about having another day at the beach the next day - something that required little effort - before we parted ways again.

He stood with me in the bedroom, hands holding mine, lips pressed to my cheek. The guilt from before hadn't left my mind, even if he seemed perfectly okay it still bugged me.

"Shun..." I uttered, squeezing his hands. "Why did you go quiet earlier?"

He looked up at me through the few strands of hair that hung over his eyes, he bit his lip slightly before looking down at our hands.

"What are we gonna do when we go back?" he asked, avoiding my question. "Like, in school, at home..."

I exhaled lightly, so he wasn't mad at me, I supposed that now would be a good a time as any to discuss it.

"Well, we have to focus on our studies, the preparations for the Winter Cup, at some point our parents are gonna find out." I mused, bringing a hand up to caress his cheek and tilting his head up a little more. He eyes seemed as bright as the fireworks as he listened to me. "But I have no problem with simple gestures."

"What do you class as simple?" He whispered, his fingers slipping under the hem of my shirt, the innocence in his actions was decreasing rapidly as he rubbed slow circles on my skin.

"Hand-holding...maybe quick kisses here and there..." I murmured, leaning closer to him. "Nothing too extreme."

He smiled, fingers moving further up my chest underneath my shirt. "So this could be one of the last times we get to do this for a while?"

I thought, we could risk it if my family was out but I didn't want to think about that right now, not whilst his calloused fingers stroked my chest anyway.

"I-I mean...possibly?" I uttered, watching his gaze on me. I kissed him without thinking, not wanting the silence to fall between us. He squeaked slightly in surprise, other hand coming up to tangle in my hair as he kissed back.

The air in the room grew heavy, I pushed him away so I could take off my shirt, his eyes raked over me, it took him next to no time to strip his own shirt off and practically throw himself at me. Our lips locked in a sloppy movement but neither of us cared, his hands ran over the still healing marks on my back. He pulled back, regarding me with a heated but softened expression.

"We better make it memorable then." He remarked, a slight laugh leaving his lips.

I nodded, pulling him down to the futon, there was no need to ask the awkward question as he leaned over me, kissing my neck as his fingers returned to gliding over my chest. He hovered over me, our eyes fixed on each other, nothing else seemed to matter as the corners of his mouth curved into a relaxed smile.

"I love you so much." He purred, nuzzling my neck. "I can't explain it, I just do..."

I ran a hand through his hair, tilting my head to kiss his cheek. "You don't have to, I understand."

He splayed a hand over my stomach, breath hitching as he locked eyes with me again. "Are you sure I can--"

"Shun, I already said yes." I sighed with a smile, it was touching that he kept asking but at the same time I kinda wanted him to just get on with it.

"You asked me like three times when you did it!" He remarked, getting up and fishing something out of his jacket that had been discarded on the floor.

"That's 'cause we were both tipsy."

He rolled his eyes dramatically. "...stop being right." He half-heartedly grumbled with a smile.

As he moved to straddle me again I ran my hands up his thighs, so far we were both just shirtless but that was going to change quickly. He wouldn't let me see what he had taken from the jacket pocket and I was too distracted by his lips on my collarbone to ask. Soft, open-mouthed kisses marked my chest as he moved further down, he watched me with a warm gaze as my eyes slipped shut and I began to lose myself just in those simple actions alone.

I threaded my fingers through his hair as he reached my shorts, his fingers worked quickly to unfasten them, still pressing kisses to my skin as he eased them off me. The sudden feeling of his lips against mine pulled a gasp from me, he smirked into the kiss as he slowly palmed me through my boxers. My fingers dug into his shoulders, his lips moved to my ear lobe.

"I want to hear you." He whispered, the grip around my arousal tightening slightly. He gently reached up with his other hand and removed my glasses, kissing the bridge of my nose. My vision wasn't blurred too much as I slowly opened my eyes to find him watching me intently.

He kissed me with more determination than before, lightly biting my bottom lip, his hand dipped below the thin fabric of my boxers, pulling a loud but muffled moan from me as I felt him stroke me. I couldn't keep my thoughts in order, the feeling of his fingers around me, inexperienced but still drawing whimpers from me as he increased his pace ever-so-slightly.

"S-Shun..." I breathed.

"Hm?" He replied, licking the patch of skin just below my ear, eliciting another moan from me. My hips bucking up into his hold, he tightened his grip again as he bit my neck. The sting of pain being overlapped with the strokes of pleasure.

He licked the new mark that was sure to form on my neck before pulling back, a hand trailed down my side as he withdrew the other from stroking me. It took very little effort to discard my boxers, feeling the cold air on my heated skin made me almost hiss but when he took me in his mouth I couldn't stop the moan in my throat. His tongue flattening against me as he took me in until I felt the back of his throat brush against my tip. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

"Oh god--" I choked out, resisting the urge to thrust further in as my eyes slipped shut again. His mouth was warm and wet, I didn't know if he was watching my reaction or not, he simply began to move his head back and forth, fingers wrapping around the base as he did so.

When he hummed around me I felt like I was going to come there and then, the vibration alone causing my hips to shift up until he forcefully pinned them down with a slight laugh. His tongue flicked over the slit as he released me, I whimpered at the loss of contact until I sensed his face close to mine, the musky smell accompanying him.

Two fingers were eased between my lips as he kissed my neck again, I licked and sucked them, knowing exactly what he was going to be doing with them. With a kiss to my cheek he backed away, I opened my eyes and watched him crouch between my legs, he was blushing but was still calm and composed, the qualities that made him such a good point guard. His eyes flicked up to catch mine as I propped myself up on my elbows.

"This'll probably sting a little." He murmured, licking the two fingers that had been in my mouth, I could see the slickness of them even now. "Just say if it's too much."

I nodded, feeling hazy with the heat in the air and my body. His free hand stroked my inner thigh as he gently pressed one finger at  my entrance. I willed myself to relax, it would probably make it easier and a lot less painful.

Slowly, he eased inside, I exhaled and let my head fall back. It felt strange if nothing else, he kissed my thigh as his free hand vanished, I heard the sound of a bottle opening and closing before feeling a coolness around his finger. He pressed in a little further, taking my heavy breathing as a good sign. The burn was subsiding slightly as he gently began to withdraw his finger, pushing back in with care and composure.

"You good?" He asked quietly, kissing my thigh again.

"Y-Yeah...yeah." I breathed, I was slowly getting used to the sensation as he added his second finger. My breathing hitched as I was stretched wider, his free hand was back at my cock, lightly stroking to try and keep me relaxed. In the back of my mind I wondered how he knew what he was doing, I barely knew what I had to do when the roles were reversed the other night.

"Think you can take a third?" He asked, voice soft and soothing. He glanced up at me, a small smile resting on his face, fingers still inside me gently thrusting.

I exhaled, eventually I'd have to if I was going to take him inside me. "I-I think so."

He leaned forward and licked the head of my cock, I moaned and was caught slightly unaware when I felt the third finger press into me.

"F-Fuck..." I breathed, my hands clenching into fists as his fingers coiled and uncoiled inside of me. The burn was dulling but it still felt strange, I didn't believe it could feel pleasurable until he brushed against a certain spot. "Oh god, fuck--"

He hummed and twisted his fingers to reach it again. I moaned louder and my arms nearly gave out, realising that this was probably going to happen eventually I eased myself down, this also changed the angle that he was thrusting his fingers at. He brushed against the spot again before abruptly pulling out, I let out a small whimper.

His lips brushed against mine unexpectedly, hearing him gasp slightly as my hand pulled on his hair. His fingers were preoccupied with getting the rest of his clothes off so he couldn't stop me moving to bite his neck.

"Now now..." He whispered, finally getting a free hand to my cheek. "Save it for later."

I didn't reply, my eyes opened again, his lips pressed against mine, soft and slow before he repositioned himself between my legs. My breathing was heavy as I watched him roll on the condom and slick himself  and me up with lube.

He seemed eerily calm but I could read behind his eyes, he was holding back the lust as he pressed a finger into me again, making sure I was prepared enough.

"Ready?" His free hand lightly stroking my inner thigh, he withdrew his finger and lined himself up.

"Yeah..." I breathed, catching his eye.

With a small nod he slowly pressed into me, biting his lip as I exhaled loudly. His fingers had prepared me but this was another sensation entirely, it was slow going and I almost wanted him to just be rough about it, I knew he wouldn't though. He'd keep it slow and shallow until I said something.

Not that speaking was on my mind as I felt him deeper inside me.

"...f-fuck..." I breathed, he gave an experimental thrust and pushed the rest of him inside me. I let out a moan as he stilled. I hesitated a glance at him, his composure had fallen and he was panting heavily.

"God you feel so good." He murmured, pulling out slightly and thrusting in again, a small growl escaping his lips.

I didn't have the mind to be embarrassed, his words just made all the heat in my body rush down, eliciting a moan from both of us. He increased the pace gradually, hands moving to grip my waist and pull me in whichever way he wanted, his strength somewhat surprised me but that thought was buried as he changed the angle of his thrusts. I instinctively wrapped my legs around him, pulling him closer.

 Sweat clung to both of us, I couldn't focus on anything except him. The way he cussed under his breath with each thrust and the feeling of having him fully inside me. He paused for a split second, slowly withdrawing before slamming into me unexpectedly.

"Oh god--" I choked out, feeling myself stretch to accommodate him and tightening my legs around him which just encouraged him to do it again.

His pace was steady, one hand left my hips and began stroking my leaking cock, using his other hand to lean on as he changed angle again. He was a hot mess, stroking me with the same intensity as his thrusts. I could feel the heat building as his fingers tightened around me. 

"Fuck..." he hissed, his rhythm faltering slightly. "Fuck you're so fucking..."

He let out a broken moan  before pulling out, he wasn't done yet, no this was something else. He bit my inner thigh, sucking and leaving a mark as he looked at me with hungry eyes.

"Shun..." I whimpered, feeling like just him looking at me like that could be the end of it all.

Without a word he slammed into me again, a sense of urgency about him as he set a faster and harder pace, there was still an element of caution as he wasn't being rough.

I couldn't help but cry out, he brushed against the sensitive spot which made me push against him, desperate for release. His hand closed around my cock and he pumped in time with his thrusts like before. The heat in my body was almost unbearable, I didn't hold back the moans and neither did he.

The air grew heavier and hotter as we both got closer, I felt a tightness in my chest as his strokes and thrusts got the better of me.

"S-Shun--" I moaned. "F-fuck...fuck--"

He slowed slightly, leaning over me as he kept going. "Come for me Junpei." He growled in my ear, biting my neck again as he pumped me faster. I moaned loudly as my orgasm hit me, he kept fucking me through it, hitting his own high a few moments later.

He slumped against me, panting heavily and kissing my cheek. My heart was racing as I breathed, my fingers running through his hair as he slowly eased himself out of me. I whimpered, feeling the stickiness between us.

"I love you." I whispered as he eased himself off my chest.

He looked back at me with hazy eyes before smiling. "I love you too."

"Oh god...I'm gonna ache so much tomorrow."

"You could say...I was a pain in your ass." He smirked, getting to his feet and removing the condom. "Stay there, I'll be back in a sec."

I nodded, not bothering to yell at him for the pun. He came back with a box of tissues and set about cleaning the two of us up as I tried not to wince at the over-stimulation. We both got our underwear back on before he curled up facing me, stroking my cheek and kissing my forehead.

"You should bottom more often." he remarked, I raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think so." I sighed.

"You look so hot though..."

"You look hotter." I murmured, closing my eyes and feeling exhausted.

"Nu-uh."

"Uh-huh."

"Prove it."

I opened my eyes to see him smirking. I didn't want to know what he meant by that. I simply wrapped an arm around him and pulled him closer. He dropped the topic and sighed, burying his face in the crook of my neck as we both fell asleep.

 


	13. The Prank

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fresh off the press!  
> Literally, I just finished writing this chapter and I just couldn't wait another 6 hours to update.  
> So, unless I get any more requests I'm probably gonna write another two chapters (three at most) for this fic.  
> However I'd kinda like to write a follow up to this fic, maybe just a collection of oneshots or something (feel free to request something for that in the comments).  
> I mean it's down to what you guys want, I'm prepared to write pretty much anything for this pairing, I just need to know what you wanna see!

"And I won't bring it up again." Izuki smiled as we left our room. I rolled my eyes, he'd find a way to make another comment but I wasn't going to say that out loud.

We had woken up and spent half an hour just led there together, soft and sleepy kisses being traded back and forth before eventually getting up. My entire body ached, some places more than others for obvious reasons. He had simply smiled and shrugged, kissing me gently before telling me that it was worth it for him, he then decided to recount the details that I really didn't need to hear. I had managed to shut him up just as we left for the beach but I had my doubts whether he'd actually keep his word.

"And at what point did this seem like a good idea?" I found myself asking Kagami who had buried Kuroko in the sand and then apparently lost him. The day had been reasonably quiet so far, the ocean was calm and the sand warm, although now we were trying to find the first year with little luck.

"I didn't _actually_ bury him up to his head!" the ace replied. "He must've gotten out and now be hiding."

"I mean, you _did_ bury him in the sand." I sighed. None of the others had been told about this and it seemed that I was the one he deemed would know what to do. So the two of us scanned the beach for any sign of the phantom, which turned up empty.

As much as I didn't want to worry the others, I asked the rest of the first years to help but told them not to alert the others, this wasn't an emergency yet. Kagami was starting to freak out as the minutes ticked by, I had to pull him aside and give him a pep talk.

"Look, Kuroko isn't going to hate you for this." I lightly punched his shoulder. "I mean he might not be amused that you lost him but he won't hate you."

"What if Aomine finds out, he won't let me hear the end of it..."

"And you really think he didn't lose Kuroko during middle school?" I challenged. "Come on Kagami, sure he might make a remark or something but we'll wipe the smirk off his face next time we play Tōō."

He smiled a little, looking out across the sand. His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he seemed to count how many of us were on the beach. "...where's Kise?"

I counted too, all of Seirin was present except Kuroko, I could see Aomine basking in the sunshine like his cat-like counterpart would do. I couldn't see the blond ace anywhere.

"Maybe he--"

"That bastard!" Kagami exploded, taking off at a sprint, I rubbed my forehead and sighed loudly. It was reasonable to assume that Kise had taken Kuroko somewhere and just neglected to tell Kagami.

I walked back to the second years and collapsed onto the blanket between Izuki and Kiyoshi. It was the middle of the day and it was _hot_ even in the shade of the parasol, too hot to contemplate moving again. Kagami was loudly conversing with Aomine about Kise kidnapping Kuroko - to which Aomine just shrugged and said that Kise had an unhealthy obsession with the smaller boy so it was natural.

It was easy to fall asleep, Izuki had curled up next to me in the haze and was lazily scrolling through his phone when I woke up. Most of the others were dozing or quietly enjoying the calmness that seldom graced our team. Kise and Kuroko were nowhere to be seen but I wasn't too bothered, they could look after themselves easily enough.

Between Aomine's snores and the low rumble of waves crashing, I became involved in a game between Koga and Fukuda to see who could balance the most objects on Kiyoshi's sleeping form, the two of them would crack up in silent giggles as more and more beach debris got lightly dropped onto the sleeping giant. Kawahara and Furihata watched in anticipation whilst, Tsuchida and Mitobe just exchanged amused smiles with me. Koga tried to drape seaweed across our centre's forehead, he was shaking from contained laughter too much to concentrate.

I bit my lip, by this point Kagami had stirred and was watching us with a mixture of confusion and amusement. He bought out his phone and started recording a video, pressing me and Izuki to tell him what the hell was going on.

"So--um, we've been trying to see how many things we could put on Kiyoshi before he woke up--" I whispered, gesturing to the array of pebbles, seashells and odd bits of driftwood that had been collected.

"I don't really _sea_ the point but it's amusing." Izuki remarked, gaining an eye roll from both me and Kagami. Furihata nearly burst out laughing and knocked Koga's arm - sending the seaweed out of his grasp and landing on Aomine's face.

The ace spluttered and woke up with a surprised yelp. The rest of us couldn't help but laugh which in turn woke up Kiyoshi. Everyone was beside themselves with laugher as the iron-heart sat up and tried to figure out why there was so much beach junk around him. It took a while for any of us to calm down enough to explain first to Kiyoshi what had happened and second to Aomine why he had been effectively slapped with seaweed.

Safe to say, the ace wasn't terribly amused but he took it rather well.

"And I though you second years were meant to be more mature." He sighed, tossing the seaweed at Tsuchida.

"We're never too old for _shell-_ anigans."

"Itzuki please--" Koga groaned.

" _Sea_ what I did there?"

"Senpai--" Furihata buried his face in his hands.

"I just want your _seal_ of approval guys."

"I don't think that's happening." Kiyoshi smiled as Izuki rolled onto his back and looked up at me.

"You love me right? I mean, you are my _buoy-_ friend." He grinned, reaching up and poking my cheek.

"You've got to be _squid-_ ing me." I uttered. The looks of horror on my team-mates faces said it all.

"No Hyuuga don't fall into his trap again!" Koga immediately cried, practically tackling me backwards. "Don't give in!"

"I think it's _fin-_ tastic." Izuki declared, causing Fukuda to face-palm and Kagami to sigh loudly.

I eventually got Koga to let go of me, everything calmed down again, although it wasn't as quiet as before and the lack of Kise and Kuroko was beginning to concern us. Aomine sighed and called the blond who loudly declared that him and Kuroko were on their way back with a surprise for us.

With the sun still reasonably high in the sky it was decided that until the others got back - we still didn't know _where_ they were - we'd spend sometime in the ocean. Just as the others made a break for the water Izuki turned to me and requested that I help him reapply sunscreen, with it just being the two of us I could tell that things wouldn't stay innocent for long.

"Just saying, sunscreen isn't a substitute for lube." I whispered in his ear as he led on his stomach.

"Damn you saw right through me." He sighed dramatically, making a surprised gasp as I squeezed the cold liquid onto his back.

"And it's too hot for that." I continued, slowly running my hands over his heated skin, gently massaging the lotion across his shoulders.

He sighed, resting his head on his folded arms as I focused on spreading the sunscreen around, my attention drifted though to how smooth his skin felt under my fingers. As I worked my hands over his back I was worried that he was in danger of falling asleep again but occasionally he'd let out a small moan, his cheeks flushing red along with them.

I ran my hands down his sides, settling them on his hips and rubbing circles with my thumbs. Time seemed to slow, I could hear the others laughing and yelling only a few feet away but it felt like it was just me and Izuki there in that moment. He hummed, turning his head slightly and catching my eye.

"Get distracted?" He murmured.

I swallowed, it wasn't an innuendo or a pun, his expression was soft, eyes sincere and a smile tugging at his lips.

"A little." I mused, gesturing for him to roll over, he complied, arms thrown above his head on the blanket as he regarded me with the same expression. "Can't help that you're so stunning."

His smile grew as I leaned over him. "You're one to talk."

His cockiness was going to cause him trouble one day but I didn't mind it. I raised an eyebrow and kissed him, his hands glided over my shoulders as he kissed back, parting my lips and slipping his tongue between them.

"Get a room!" Kagami called from the water.

We both laughed and parted. Only our ace would get away with that kind of comment but even then I would only accept so much.

"So how is the captain gonna punish his underclass-man?" Izuki remarked as he sat up.

"I have a few ideas." I mused. "Gonna need my vice captain's help though."

He nodded, sneaking another kiss before we joined the rest of them. Kagami was gonna get it tonight, I just needed Kuroko's help too, which considering the day's events, shouldn't be too hard to get.

~*~

When Kise said they had a surprise for us we didn't think it would be a volleyball and shaved ice. Having just played with the team during our training camp, we weren't _that_ enthusiastic at first. However the three aces were already fuelling their rivalries again and it had been a fair few days since we had played any kind of sport.

Aomine and Kise immediately got fired up as soon as we made our way to the net further down the beach, all eating the flavoured ice that the blond had bought for us. Kuroko manned the drinks cooler that had also appeared and seemed to be blanking Kagami, much to the red-head's distress.

"Kuroko I didn't forget about you!"

I couldn't help but smile, if Kuroko was actually annoyed then there was a higher chance of him helping Izuki and I later on.

"Kagamicchi be on my team!" Kise called.

"Oh no you don't baka!" Aomine snapped. "Kagami help me teach Kise why he shouldn't kidnap Tetsu."

It took a few moments for Kagami to eventually side with Kise, Aomine seemed put out but it was quickly forgotten as the match got under way. We played for a while, Aomine determined to prove a point as he'd use every chance possible to aim for Kagami's face and Kise matching his actions. Luckily no-one was actually hurt, a few falls and trips but nothing that required an ambulance.

During one of the breaks I pulled Kuroko aside, he seemed a little weary of me but otherwise he was his normal stoic self.

"Do you need something senpai?"

"Actually I do." I smiled, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "It's more of a 'help me help you' situation."

"You're not making--"

"Izuki and I want to prank Kagami, you're annoyed at him for earlier correct?"

He smiled slightly. "So you want me to let you and Izuki into our room and..."

"I have one or two pranks in mind but I'm all ears if you can think of any more." I didn't want to know how he figured it out.

He agreed to help us out, we returned to the chaos that was the first years trying to defeat Koga, Mitobe, Tsuchida and Kiyoshi. Izuki raised an eyebrow at me before handing me a can of soda, Aomine and Kise had slipped of somewhere and I really didn't need to know what they were doing, Kagami had successfully gotten Kuroko to speak to him.

The afternoon passed, the heat dying with the light. I gave Kuroko instructions to text us once Kagami was asleep before we all parted ways. Izuki wasn't actually being very helpful with coming up with a decent prank, my original idea was the typical whip cream on the hand and face plan but apparently that wasn't good enough.

"We gotta do better than that." He sighed, pacing the lounge of our room. "Do you think Aomine and Kise know nay good pranks? I mean they probably played loads on each other at Teiko."

"We're not dragging those two idiots into this." I stated from the couch. "They'll probably wake him up before we actually prank him."

He paced the room a bit more, I rolled my eyes and picked up my phone. If we were pranking Kagami then we might as well get the some of the team in on it. A few texts later and we had the other second years in our room all wondering what the hell was going on. I explained that we should remind Kagami that he should respect his upperclass-men and what better way to do that than to prank him. It surprised me that they were all on board.

"So we get some duct tape." Koga stated, taking Mitobe's wrists and putting them together. "We tape his wrists together above his head."

"And just try not to cut off the circulation?" Tsuchida remarked.

Koga nodded. There were a few other ideas batted around, we didn't want to make a mess of the room and Kuroko had to sleep there too so a lot of the messier ideas were shot down immediately.

"We could shave off his eyebrows?" Koga told us that Mitobe suggested.

"Nah, too loud." Kiyoshi remarked. "Oh does anyone have a decent marker pen?"

"We could just asked Kise for his make-up bag again." Izuki murmured.

"No, I already said that those two bakas would just make things worse. Plus we don't even know where they are." I sighed.

We eventually got a few ideas together, a little after midnight Kuroko sent me a text letting us all know that Kagami was now asleep. With a quick stop to pick up some supplies we made our way to the room. The first year was confused at first at the others being there but we didn't really give him a chance to object, besides he agreed to do this in the first place.

He didn't question the roll of duct tape, the ice bucket or the whipped cream, he actually smiled as we explained what we were gonna do in hushed whispers. We were thankful that Kagami was a heavy sleeper as this was going to take a while and we were probably going to make a lot of noise whilst doing it.

"Wait, are you actually mad at him?" Koga asked Kuroko as I slowly moved Kagami's arms so that Mitobe could tape them together at the wrists like Koga had instructed.

"No, it's just fun to have someone new to prank. Kise-kun and I would prank Aomine-kun all the time."

"I told you we should've asked Kise but _no_." Izuki smirked in the dim light, we were working by cell phone light for the most part and whatever light slipped through the open door to the entranceway.

Kagami snored quite loudly, not as bad as Aomine but it was still enough to make me wonder how the hell Kuroko slept in the same room as him. The benefit was that we could tell he was still fast asleep even after securing his wrists together.

"So, now the pen." I gestured to Kiyoshi, he nodded and set to work with the black sharpie. The idea was simple and it was hard to not laugh at the situation. After a few minutes he stood back, he'd drawn cat whiskers on the red-head's cheeks and written ' _Tiger_ ' on his forehead.

"Oh god we're so cruel." Tsuchida remarked. "He's gonna kill us."

"No he won't, this is to teach him not to mess with us second years." Izuki told him, handing me the can of whipped cream.

"Kuroko do you have any ideas? Cause we have a few more up our sleeves--"

"Take his bag." The first year told us. "I'll claim I don't know anything."

Koga nearly burst out laughing, only being silenced by Mitobe's hands over his mouth. I nodded to Izuki to collect the gym back that our ace had bought with him. I used my phone to take a picture of Kagami's face before carefully covering the markings with whipped cream. I had to admit that I did feel a little guilty but we could do _so_ much worse if we weren't staying in a hotel.

"What's the ice for?" Kuroko asked as I gave the canister back to Izuki.

"Well if we're done then we simply place them inside the futon, they'll melt overnight and he'll have a wet futon in the morning." Kiyoshi replied. "And we make a quick exit in case he wakes up sooner."

"But first." Izuki uttered, taking out his phone and pressing record. "So what did we just do?" He asked, panning the camera over all of us.

"We taught our ace a lesson in respect." I remarked. "Don't mess with your seniors or else this happens."

"Technically he didn't mess with all of us, just you two." Koga pointed out as Izuki got closer to the sleeping ace.

"Do you wanna be next on the list?" I asked jokingly.

"No--it's fine captain!"

With the video evidence gathered, possibly a bad idea but it would also give us something to hold over him if he got out of hand again, we gave Kuroko the ice and excused ourselves.

It was past one when Izuki and I got into bed, I felt exhausted but I also felt happy. We had enjoyed ourselves so much during our stay here, it was going to be hard being thrown back into things but at least we had the photos and memories to look back on.

"Say, I was thinking." Izuki murmured in the darkness.

"Oh dear." I chuckled. "Do go on."

"I want to introduce you to my family."

"...they already know me."

"No." He turned around in my arms and faced me, lips pressing against mine briefly. "I want to introduce you to them as my boyfriend."

That was a fast change of mind from a few days ago. I cupped his face gently and kissed him lightly. "If that's what you want, I'll be with you every step of the way."

He giggled slightly, finding my hand and linking our fingers together as my hand lingered near his cheek. "It is. I don't want to hide from my own family, I want you to feel welcome there and I want to be able to have you sleep in my room without issue. I want my parents to know that I love you and that nothing is gonna change that."

I wondered what had spurred all this from him, what had triggered these thoughts? Regardless, I couldn't help but feel my heart hammering in my chest as I struggled to think of words to follow that declaration.

My imagination was running wild already with images of us being able to be so carefree around his family, weekends sleeping in until noon, rainy afternoons studying with the windows open, being able to kiss him without being scared of what others might think.

"I-I...I'd love that." I uttered eventually, squeezing his hand. "I'd love that so much."

"It'll be just like middle school but better." He sighed, nuzzling my neck as he shuffled closer. "It'll be perfect..."

He fell asleep pretty quickly, the day's events catching up with him. I held him and pressed one final kiss to his lips before letting my own exhaustion take over. I really could get used to this.

 


	14. The nosebleed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's gonna be a few more chapters because I really have no life and I got some more requests so yeah woo!  
> I'm actually thinking of taking requests for oneshots and turning this into a series - so basically everything would be in one place rather than in the fandom chaos that is my profile - but I'll figure that out at another point (let me know if you guys have any better ideas).  
> Anyway! This chapter was rewritten 3 times in one day because writer's block is a bitch -.-  
> 

The matter of Kagami's face still showing signs of the sharpie was one that provided us with a lot of amusement. Aomine was in hysterics, Kise had the good nature to offer to clean or cover it up but was turned down fairly quickly.

"Wha-what happened Bakagami?" Aomine spluttered as we met up in the lobby that morning. The red-head scowled at his rivals and then to the rest of us. We were barely keeping it together as Aomine hooted with laughter.

"Don't act like you don't know!"

"Hey! We had nothing to do with this--take a look at Kise's neck for my alibi."

"Aominecchi!" Kise exclaimed, elbowing his lover in the ribs.

I almost didn't want to come clean, this was far too amusing to listen to them bicker about it.

"Well someone got into our room last night and did this without waking Kuroko!" he thundered, I wasn't sure why he wasn't seeing the funny side of it, we sure were.

"Calm down Kagami." Kiyoshi murmured, calm but authoritative. "No real harm was done was it? Nothing was stolen?"

He seemed rather put out that Kiyoshi was right, I knew that feeling all too well myself. "I suppose, but I'd still like to know who did it!"

"Why don't you try thinking of people who'd actually _want_ to do this to you?" Aomine remarked, poking the red-head's cheek that was still sporting a smudged tiger stripe.

Koga managed to avoid another argument breaking out by suggesting we all go and play streetball, at least it would help Kagami work off his frustration and we'd all get some exercise out of it. The walk to the court was filled with Kagami's grumbling and the second years trying to remain innocent although it was difficult to resist making remarks about it all.

"Is the video still on your phone?" I whispered to Izuki as we arrived at the court.

"Yeah why?"

"Make sure that he doesn't get hold of it then."

"Nah shit." he remarked. "I thought I might just show him now!"

"Izuki!"

"Yo so are you two playing or what?" Aomine called, we both nodded and joined the rest of them.

It was pretty much divided so that it was first year Seirin verses the second years with Aomine, Kise and Mitobe on the bench for now. We weren't taking it as seriously as we would in practice, this was just for fun after all. It didn't take long for the second years to pull ahead although Kagami and Kuroko were doing everything to hinder us and keep the score difference in single digits. When Kise came on to replace Kuroko all hell broke loose. The score was levelled within two minutes and I was seriously beginning to wonder if we'd ever pull away again.

"Geez I never thought I'd be playing on the same team as you." Aomine uttered as he subbed in for Koga.

"There's a first time for everything." I replied, wiping the sweat from my face with my shirt. "Although it looks like we have company."

A group of guys had gathered at the entrance to the court all watching us play. Aomine merely smirked and rotated his shoulder in its socket.

"Better give them a good show, _captain_."

Playing both Kise and Kagami was a interesting experience, as was actively playing with Aomine - or rather existing on the same team as Aomine as he dunked repeatedly. When Koga yelled that we should take a break I almost refused but the promise of cold drinks and a few minutes of rest was too good to pass up. The second year team, featuring Aomine, had won by eight points but our only reward was bragging rights.

At least the sweat had caused Kagami's tiger stripe to rub off, he also seemed to be in a good mood once again. As we all traded remarks and jokes about the game the group of guys approached us.

"You're a pretty good team." One of them stated, he was around the same height as Kiyoshi but he didn't seem like a high-school student. He seemed friendly enough but I didn't like the vibe I was getting off him.

"Yeah, well we're not actually all on the same team." Kise replied. "Just a group of friends on vacation."

"Never thought we'd find two of the Generation of Miracles here though." one of the others said, gesturing to both Kise and Aomine.

I didn't like where this was going.

"Well we don't tend to hang out much." Aomine scoffed, he was getting annoyed now and that was a bad sign.

"What do you say to a game?" the leader asked, directing the question to all of us. "Put your best players out and we'll see what you're made of."

Kiyoshi and I exchanged glances, a so-called friendly match with a group of nobodies wouldn't be too hard.

"Alright. Give us a second to sort out a team." I stepped forward so I was between them and the team. "We'll give you a match."

~*~

The team we decided on would be Kise, Aomine, Kiyoshi, Izuki and myself as captain. Kagami, Kuroko and Koga would be our replacements if we needed them. It occurred to me that we didn't even know who these people were so we could've been facing off against a college team for all we knew.

"So you think you can handle two of the aces?" Kiyoshi remarked as we made our way onto the court.

"We know that Aomine plays by his own rules, Kise will just do what he does best and that'll leave the three of us to do our run and gun style." I told him. "To be honest I'm not taking this too seriously, they're the ones who wanted to play the miracles so badly."

"We'll see."

Kiyoshi volunteered to do the tip off, Tsuchida was co-refereeing with one of the other team's friends so it wouldn't be biased. I still didn't like the vibe this team was giving off but I put it to the back of my mind as the game got under way. As I predicted Aomine immediately got possession and charged towards the basket, there was no denying that he was fast and it certainly proved challenging to play alongside. I almost had a new found respect for Imayoshi for dealing with this.

With the combination of Kise and Aomine we pulled ahead by six points, it didn't seem to faze the other team which is why I called a time-out.

"What's up?" Aomine questioned.

"I don't like this." I uttered. "They seem too content with getting walked all over."

"I agree." Kiyoshi sighed. "They're not really attacking but they're not really defending either, it's weird."

"Maybe they're just getting a grasp for our style before deciding how to play." Kise suggested.

"Either way, stay alert." I told them. "Don't let it fool you into falling into a trap."

We got back into the game, I knew that if we really wanted to beat them then we just had to bring on Kuroko and Kagami but I didn't sense the need to. They seemed to be more focused when we started again, finding their way past our defences and scoring a few points but I couldn't shake the feeling of dread that was creeping over me.

Surely enough, as the minutes ticked on we found ourselves being overpowered. Aomine was still storming though and dunking but the run and gun kept failing without Kuroko's deceptive passes and the other team seemed to almost see what we were doing and would steal the ball repeatedly.

"Should we bring them in?" Izuki asked as we jogged back for a reset.

"No, I don't want all three aces on this court at once. They wouldn't be able to work together and you know that."

"But--"

"Trust me, they need a point guard so that would mean Kiyoshi and I would have to come off but that would also leave them without a captain. We'd have to swap Kise and Aomine out for them."

He nodded, it's not that I didn't want to let Kagami and Kuroko on the court, it was more to do with that doing so would only show our two rivals how we'd adapted our play, plus if they got injured then I'd have to explain to Riko what the hell had happened. That was one phone call I didn't want to have.

"Run and gun!" Izuki called, I snapped back into the game, receiving the ball and drippling down the court, Aomine actually seemed to playing with us as a team as he ran alongside me. I passed to him and he dunked with ease.

It was at this point that I noticed that the other team were scarcely defending their own basket, they seemed much more interested in marking the others. Aomine smirked and nudged me.

"I think you should bring Tetsu on, there's no way your run and gun style will keep working if they're marking us like this."

"And who do I send off?" I asked, looking at him expectantly.

"Kise and I, we've proved our point against these bakas. Plus I'm interested in seeing how you handle Kagami considering I know you're the ones who played the prank on him."

I was thrown off by that remark but would pursue it later, I gave the signal for the two aces to sub out for our light and his shadow. The looks on the opposition's faces said it all; they underestimated Kuroko immediately and that would be their undoing.

"Why are you bringing the runt on?" Their captain asked as we set up to restart.

"Oh you have _no_ idea." Izuki remarked, gaining a glare from them which I didn't like one bit.

"Oh really?" the guy was beginning to give off a more intimidating vibe as the game progressed, somewhat similar to my clutch personality. "I guess you'll have to show us then."

He brushed past Izuki, harshly knocking his shoulder in the swift movement. So they were that kind of team then.

"Right." I sighed. "Kuroko, our run and gun style isn't going to work unless you get the passes, likewise Kagami is probably gonna end up being our sole scorer now as I doubt I'm gonna get the three-pointers."

"You gotta _ball_ lieve in yourself."

"And you gotta shut up." I rolled my eyes at him. "Focus dipshit."

"Dipshit? Really?"

Kiyoshi just chuckled and put a hand on both Kagami's and my shoulder. "Now, just don't lose focus and we'll get out of here alive

We all nodded and got back to it. The sense of dread was only growing as Kiyoshi stepped forward for the tip off again. Something really didn't sit right with me about this team.

~*~

Kuroko's passes threw them off big time, it was almost amusing. Unfortunately it backfired slightly as in order to keep up with us they started playing dirty. With Tsuchida and the other ref having to agree on what was foul-worthy there was little we could do about the elbows and knees that would be pressed into my back.

My paranoia was only heightened as they seemed to not focus their efforts on Kuroko or even Kagami, no they seemed to be fixated with boxing Izuki in which was rather troublesome to say the least. It seemed that even his eagle eye couldn't quite shake them from marking him so closely.

He passed to me and I made to pass to Kiyoshi but we all knew that Kuroko would alter the course and send it down the court to Kagami. I almost didn't see them do it.

Tsuchida did though and he shouted for a time-out. Everyone else was confused until we saw the blood droplets on the sun baked ground.

"Are you okay?" I asked Izuki as I cupped his face in my hands. His nose was bleeding and he spluttered slightly as he tried to smile through the pain.

"Y-Yeah, just--"

His eyes were watering as I tipped his head forward to try and drain the blood. It was a forgone conclusion that he needed to sit out until it stopped, we decided to break for a few minutes anyway. I was beyond annoyed, I was furious, playing rough is one thing but I knew what I had seen.

"They deliberately elbowed him in the face." I uttered to Kiyoshi. "I knew something was off about the way they were marking him."

Izuki was sat on the floor, head hanging almost between his legs as we tried to find something to mop up the blood with. He was gripping my hand which was placed on his knee.

"We need something to put on his nose." Koga told me. I didn't think twice as I took my shirt off and scrunched it up before handing it to him, Izuki took it without question and held it to his face. Aomine and Kagami were less than impressed at the behaviour of the other team and seemed as if they were about to start a fist-fight over it.

Kagami snorted and walked up to their captain. "You call that playing streetball?" He asked, I didn't see the point in stopping him, my attention was more focused on trying to stop Izuki from bleeding everywhere. I pressed a kiss to the top of his head and squeezed his knee in reassurance before standing up and joining Kagami.

"Hey it wasn't done on purpose." the captain replied, his tone was mocking and I didn't like it one bit.

"You're not even showing remorse so how are we meant to believe you?" I retaliated. "We have at least two people who saw you elbow him in the face when he didn't even have the ball."

The guy just shrugged. "No pain no gain, surely you should know that." He smirked, I was two seconds away from punching him when Kise's hand on my shoulder stopped me.

"He's asking for you." he whispered. "Leave these guys to us."

Aomine stepped forward, nodding to me. What these two did wasn't my concern, I had to watch out for my own team and keep Kagami from doing anything stupid but I could see the fiery sparks in his eyes as I looked at him.

"Don't do anything that you could get arrested for." I hissed at my ace. "Or at least make sure you don't get caught."

He nodded, as I passed Kuroko I felt the tense vibe. Even he was angry? Regardless, I made a beeline for Izuki, my shirt was now spotted with blood but he seemed to have regained his composure enough to speak.

"Junpei..." he uttered, reaching for my hand again. "What happened, I just...I passed to you and then it all goes blurry--"

"Hold still." I breathed. "You got hit in the face, the others are dealing with it."

Kiyoshi didn't seem impressed either, he had stood up and was watching whatever the aces were doing. I didn't care what they did as long as I didn't have to make any uncomfortable calls to Riko or visit a police station because of it.

"My head hurts..."

"It's okay, we'll get you back to the room and get some ice." This raised an important question. "Can you stand?"

He got to his feet with help from Fukuda and Koga, when I looked over my shoulder I saw that the other team were nowhere to be seen, Kise was inspecting Aomine's knuckles as Kagami tossed the basketball to Furihata. Whatever they had done was effective.

I wrapped Izuki's arm around my shoulders as we walked back to the hotel, he held my shirt to his face still even though most of the bleeding had stopped. Kawahara was sent ahead to get some ice from the machine, the hotel staff gave us a confused look as we arrived back, Kiyoshi hurriedly explained that we had simply had an accident during a basketball game and that there was nothing to be worried about, they seemed to buy it.

When we got to the door of our room I sent everyone but Kiyoshi away, collecting the ice from Kawahara and opening the door. Izuki sat on the couch as I wrapped the ice cubes in one of my dirty shirts - not wanting to stain the hotel's white towels if he started bleeding everywhere again.

"So _ice_ of you to take care of me..." He murmured with a small smile as he pressed the ice to his nose.

"Well at least his head is okay." Kiyoshi remarked as I rolled my eyes. I was still fuming from what they had done, I paced the room as I thought about what to do.

" _Chill_ out Junpei, I'm fine."

"They basically assaulted you." I stated. "I can't believe we didn't report them."

"Well they probably got what they deserved from Aomine. He pretty much knocked the guy out, Kagami was going to follow suit until Kuroko pulled him away. Kise just stared down the rest of the team as it happened, I like to think they learned more from that than getting booked or arrested." Kiyoshi replied. "Don't worry about it Hyuuga. Just focus on other stuff."

I looked back at Izuki, he looked up at me with misty eyes. All my fury melted away as I sat next to him and pulled him into a hug. Kiyoshi took it as a signal to leave, patting my shoulder as he saw himself out. Izuki pulled away, easing the ice off his nose, it was red and the dried blood was staining his pale face.

Without thinking I licked my thumb and gently began to wipe it away, I only succeeded in making it worse which in turn made us both laugh. I tugged him into the bathroom and used the shirt that had held ice to properly clean his face. He regarded me with a small smile and giggled.

"What are you laughing at now?" I asked.

"You've pretty much ruined two of your shirts with my blood."

"And that's funny?"

"I'm just wondering how you're gonna explain it to your parents."

I didn't care, instead I cupped his face in my hands and kissed him softly, careful not to irritate his swollen nose. His hands, still slightly bloody, mirrored my actions as he kissed back but soon travelled down my bare chest, stopping at my waist.

It was barely evening, though I doubted that the others would be bugging us now, I smiled into the kiss and moaned slightly before pulling back, hands resting on his hips.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to--"

He silenced me with another kiss.

"Shut up." He murmured playfully. "You talk to much."

"Says the one who makes puns all day everyday."

"But you love it really."

"I suppose I'll endure them"

"It's not like you can _pun_ ish me for them."

I smiled, the timing of the thought that entered my mind couldn't have been more inappropriate. He must've noticed something as he tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked, his grip on my waist tightening slightly.

"Just a thought."

"What thought?" he smirked.

"You really wanna know?"

He nodded, leaning closer to me. "Tell me."

"Just thought of an adequate punishment."

His face flushed red. "O-Oh really."

Rather than telling him I let my hands wander around to his ass, squeezing slightly as I watched his eyes widen and heard the little gasp escape his lips.

"If you have no objection to it of course." I added. "But you seemed to like it when I did it before."

He swallowed, cheeks still tinted as he locked eyes with me. "Y-Yeah..."

I smiled, pressing my lips to his neck and biting slightly. "I need to work off my anger anyway."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *17/09 - I edited the ending because it didn't sit right with me when I posted it and it was bugging me too much.*


	15. The Punishment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I went back and slightly altered how the last chapter ended (replaced like two sentences) because it didn't quite sit right with me.  
> Anywho, I pretty much sat down and wrote this all in one night - finishing it at 3am this morning - and just yeah.  
> I have no other words.

I was still worked up from earlier, no matter how much I wanted to forget about it all, I still felt the frustration and bitterness burning inside me. Even with him on his knees in front of me whilst I sat on the couch, looking up at me as his perfect lips wrapped around my cock, I felt on edge.

"Fuck..." I breathed, hand tangling in his hair and tugging him away. He said nothing, merely offering a small smirk as I took his hand and pulled him to straddle me. There was no need for conversation, he was just going to let me do whatever I wanted to him, he trusted me and that was all that mattered.

We had done away with our clothes quickly, they would've just gotten in the way as my hands gripped his ass. His lips ghosted over my neck, small gasps breathing hot air onto my skin. I hissed as our hardened cocks rubbed against each other, squeezing his ass cheeks and causing him to moan in my ear.

I felt him bite me, a sting of pain that only riled me up more. Slowly, I took one hand away, the other dragging my fingers up his back, he thrust his hips forwards slightly and whimpered. I brought my hand down on his ass, his breath hitched momentarily before a choked moan spilled from his lips.

" _Please_." He uttered, cheeks flushed red as I gripped the back of his neck and pulled him backwards, I wanted to see his face as I continued spanking him, he bit his lip as our eyes met in a heated gaze.

"Please what?" I asked, slapping his other ass cheek.

He tried to bury his face in the crook of my neck but I held him in front of me, hand moving to his chest and gently pulling on one of his nipples. My other hand rubbed the smooth skin of his ass, pinching slightly when he didn't reply.

"Shun..." I hummed. "Do I need to bend you over my knee?"

He whimpered, a high pitched mewl coming from his throat as his eyes slipped shut. I leaned forward and captured his lips, nipping at them as his hands gripped my shoulders. He kissed me hungrily, not holding back as he pressed against me, cock rubbing against mine and spreading precum between us.

"Answer me." I demanded against his lips, spanking him harder than before. My frustration giving way to lust, I wanted him panting under my touch and moaning my name. I wanted him all to myself with no-one else on his mind, I wanted him to think of only me fucking him.

"Y-Yes." He cried out, he sounded so needy already and that only made me more determined.

I kissed him again, softer than before, and grabbed his wrists, manoeuvring him with ease so that he was led across my lap, completely defenceless. My hands lightly stroking the already reddening skin as he tilted his head to lock eyes with me, dark and blown wide at the building euphoria inside of him. I held his gaze as I spanked him, he tried to hold back the moan but it still escaped.

His moans only got louder, I had to force myself not to come just at the sounds he was making let alone how he was pressing his hips against my leg and was trying to gain friction. I silently reached down and gave him a few loose strokes between spanks, he fisted the couch as his breath hitched again.

I wasn't in the forgiving mood though. I closed my fingers around the base of his cock, not allowing him to release. He let out a strangled moan, I responded with three sharp spanks.

"Not yet." I uttered, tightening my grip on him slightly, I watched his facial expression as he bit down on his lip. I was almost concerned his nose would start bleeding again but that thought was abandoned quickly.

" _Junpei..._ " he pleaded, I was beginning to lose control of myself as he squirmed. "Fuck me..."

I brought my hand down on his ass, there was sure to be a mark in the morning at this rate. "Soon." I told him, whilst I wanted to bury myself in him already I also wanted to mark him more, to stake my claim to his perfect body.

He whined, I gave him one final spank before easing him back to straddling me. His eyes were lidded, lips moist and marked from where he had been biting down, cheeks flushed a deep shade of red. I could've stayed there for a while just gazing at how fucking gorgeous he looked.

"How do you want it?" I asked, running a hand down his chest and onto his thigh, totally neglecting the swollen cock that was aching for release.

"Any." He breathed, so out of it and completely at my command.

"I want you to _beg_." I hissed as I leaned forward, running my tongue over his collarbone and sinking my teeth into the flesh. His hands carded through my hair, tugging but encouraging me to continue.

It took him a few seconds to start, I bit and sucked marks along his collarbone and up his neck, catching his ear lobe between my teeth.

"Please...please fuck me..." he whispered. "I-I want to feel you fuck--" He inhaled sharply as my fingers closed around his cock again.

"Don't stop." I murmured, closing my eyes and savouring the feeling of how hard he was. "And don't even _think_ about coming."

He shivered, fingers digging into my scalp. "I want you to f-fuck me." he breathed. " _Junpei..._ "

I was pushing my own limits at this point, I hadn't touched myself but I knew I wouldn't last long if I didn't hurry things along. I marked his neck one final time before deciding that the bedroom would be more appropriate for this. He was surprisingly light which helped, he wrapped his legs around my waist as I carried his highly-strung body into the dark bedroom, it was cooler in here but it wouldn't stay that way.

"Where did you put the lube?" I whispered, pinning him down on the sheets.

He exhaled and pointed to his bag, it didn't take long to find the small bottle, there was also a condom in there so that meant I didn't have to ask for that either. I eased his legs apart, taking a slightly softer approach now that he was already at my mercy.

I kissed his jaw, admiring the dimly lit marks on his chest in the light from the hallway. My tongue ran over one of his nipples as I worked my way down his body, he whimpered slightly and reached to run his hands through my hair. I batted his hands away and pinned them above his head, a split second decision to secure them together with a belt proving a good one as he obediently held them there.

"That's better." I whispered, eye-level with him in the gloom, he nodded slightly, the faint trace of a smirk ghosting over his face before I roughly kissed him, parting his lips with ease and swirling my tongue against his. As I pulled away I took off my glasses, cautiously tossing them onto the other futon as he lay there panting, loud and uneven gasps filling the room.

My fingers trailed down his body again, I stroked him a few times but stopping just before he could come. He was whining now, hips bucking up in my grasp and desperate for release but I had other plans for that. I pulled my hand away and opened the bottle, lathering up two fingers as he watched, I wanted to hurry up but I didn't want to hurt him like this. I moved him so that he was on his knees, leaning on his elbows and facing away from me. I ran my other hand down his back and him a light spank.

I pressed the first finger in without much resistance, I ran my other hand up his spine as I slowly began to thrust, he was such a mess already and I loved seeing him like this; head hanging between his arms, sweat clinging to his back, shoulders shaking as he fought to hold himself up. After a few moments I added the second, he let out a small moan in response, pressing back on my fingers as I moved them inside of him, stretching him out.

"You look so hot right now." I breathed in his ear as I added a third finger. My cock rubbed against him and god I was so ready to make him scream. He moaned as I kissed his shoulder and became slightly rougher with my fingers. I was getting impatient and my self-control was wavering. "And no-one else is _ever_ gonna see you like it."

His moans were getting higher in pitch as I whispered more comments to him and worked his asshole. I wanted to prolong this as much as I could, my cock was almost painfully hard at this point as he pressed back on my fingers so far that I was knuckle-deep.

"I won't let anyone else have you like this." I murmured, pulling my fingers out of him. "Because only I get to turn you on like this..."

He whimpered in agreement, nodding as I trailed a hand down his back and spanked him. "Only you..." he retorted in a hoarse voice, I hadn't expected that and I nearly lost all composure because of it.

I rolled on the condom and slicked myself up with lube, I exhaled heavily as I lined myself up. His shoulders were still shaking slightly as I placed a hand between them, tenderly stroking the heated skin and pressing into him in one motion. Delicious heat surrounded me, I let out a moan as I bottomed out, he gasped and uttered something incoherent as I slowly pulled out and thrust back in harder.

"Understand?" I hissed, leaning close enough for him to feel my breath on his neck, altering the angle of my thrusts and pulling a strangled moan from him. My fingers ran through his hair and tugged his head up, sweat was trickling down his face as his lips parted to let out another moan.

He nodded in my grasp, he was beyond speaking anymore. I let go of him and focused on finding that sweet spot inside him, my hands gripping his waist and leaving more marks. He wasn't moaning anymore, no he was letting out quiet noises that would escalate to screams before long which only fuelled my lust.

My thrusts became faster and harder, I had abandoned any kind of rhythm as I felt myself getting closer. However I was determined to find his sweet spot, through the hazy thoughts I got an idea, I paused in my thrusts to lift him onto my lap. He fell back against my chest panting and probably too out of it to care, I clumsily undid the belt and bit his neck. He shuddered as my fingers began stroking him roughly and I started thrusting up into him.

It didn't take long at all to find the spot, his back arched and I felt him clench around me. I couldn't hold back the moan as I continued stroking him through his orgasm, my hand covered in his come. I thrust up into him a few more times before my own orgasm tore through me. The air in the room was hot and heavy.

We were both panting as I gently led him down, slipped out of him and took care of the condom, I wasn't really with it but I cleaned us up as best as I could. His lips found mine in the darkness and he pulled me down, peppering my jaw with light kisses as I tried to check him for any signs of stress.

"Only you." He whispered, catching me off guard slightly.

I pressed my forehead to his and sighed. "I love you, don't ever forget that."

"I love you too. Only you."

My mind was hazy, my skin was prickling with the aftermath, sweat drying and breathing unsteady. I could make out the marks all over him as he led there, I sat up and took one of his hands in mine.

"I didn't hurt you did I?" I asked quietly, rubbing his wrist where the belt had dug into his skin. "I got a little carried away."

He giggled slightly, squeezing my hand. "We should have sex when you're in clutch time, I think it could be interesting."

"You're unbelievable." I remarked, finding my glasses and putting them back on. "You didn't answer my question."

He didn't say anything at first. "A little, but I don't mind."

Now I felt guilty, I gently pulled him into my arms, hugging him tightly and murmuring apologies over and over again. He smiled and kept telling me not to worry as his fingers caressed my cheek. All my anger and frustration had melted away, replaced now with tender affection as I held him.

"Say something next time, I don't want to hurt you." I told him, kissing his forehead.

He hummed in agreement, he was falling asleep as the adrenaline wore off, I didn't blame him. I managed to get him to at least put some underwear on before he passed out, I found the energy to strip the sheets off the futon and at least pile our clothes together to avoid any awkwardness with housekeeping in the morning. When I returned to his side he was fast asleep, I ran my fingers over his marked body, reflecting on how this had all come to be, how quickly things had changed between us. I wrapped an arm around him, splaying my fingers across his chest and feeling his steady heartbeat as he slept.

"Only you." I breathed. "I'll only love you."

~*~

He wasn't there when I woke up, a flash of panic ripped through me before I heard the shower running. My body ached slightly, last night's events catching up quickly as I sat up, I debated whether or not to surprise him but eventually decided against it. I closed my eyes instead, remembering the details of last night and feeling myself grow a little aroused just at the memories alone.

I didn't even hear him enter the room, he leaned over me, warm droplets of water hitting my chest as he kissed me. He pinned me down, regarding me with bright eyes.

"Morning." I breathed once he pulled away.

"Twelve." He uttered. "At least twelve marks."

I held back a laugh, he didn't seem annoyed in the slightest but I had a feeling he didn't want me laughing. "Yeah?" I raised an eyebrow. "Disappointed?"

"Hardly." He growled slightly, hands tightening around my wrists. "I just think it's a little unfair."

"Well...I'm not gonna put up a fight."

The rebellious streak he never showed was something else, he didn't need any more words of encouragement as he sunk his teeth into my neck. I gritted my teeth as I felt it sting, pretty sure he was drawing blood. He licked the spot, sucking on it slightly before giving it another nip. One of his hands left my wrist and covered my mouth, I was unsure what he was doing until his lips moved to one of my nipples.

I stayed true to my word, forcing myself to remain still as he took it between his teeth, not biting just holding it and waiting for a reaction. When I gave him none he flicked his tongue over it, I moaned slightly against his hand.

He grinned, kissing the skin around it and grazing his teeth against it. My breathing was heavy, partly due to having to breathe through my nose more and partly due to his actions. The marks on his chest stood out in the morning light, dark red and some of them purple, clearly noticeable and no amount of Kise's expertise would be able to hide them.

"Are you pleased with your work?" He whispered, straddling me just like last night. "Does it excite you?"

He wasn't looking for answers as his hand was still covering my mouth, I raised an eyebrow in response. He leaned closer, resting his forehead against mine as he pressed his hips down onto mine.

"I can already feel it." He taunted, reaching between us with the hand that had been pinning my other wrist in place, fingers gently running over my half-hard cock. I sighed heavily, he smirked.

A knock at the door snapped him out of his actions, we froze for a few seconds as a voice called though.

"Captain?" It was Koga. Izuki simply raised an eyebrow at me, biting his lip.

"Stay here." He told me, getting up and making his way out of the room. He didn't bother to pick up a shirt so Koga was about to see every single mark I left on him. Half of me wanted to see his reaction but the other half of me wanted to obey the order.

"Oh--" Koga's surprised gasp was amusing to say the least. "Well, I guess you-uh. Should we text you later?"

Izuki murmured something in response, I didn't hear probably because I wasn't _allowed_ to hear.

"Oh-kay." Koga sounded amused now which sent up a warning flag in my mind. "I'll tell the others."

The door closed, I swallowed. What on earth was my team up to? When he returned to the bedroom he raised an eyebrow. "Nice to see you can follow orders as well as give them." He uttered, offering me a hand.

"Uh...yeah." I took his hand and let him help me onto my feet. "So what did he want?"

"Wanted to know what our plans were for the day. I told him that it was just going to be the two of us."

So he was planning something. He pulled me into a kiss, all the tension from before was gone and he was back to his normal self, well except for the lack of puns.

"So, what _are_ we doing today?" I asked.

"You'll see. We might wanna get dressed though." He replied with a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna go and watch the start of the rugby world cup and attempt to calm myself down (like that'll happen - this is sports we're talking about).  
> Just a small note - I have a job interview next weekend so if I get it then I may not have a lot of time to write, obviously I'll do my best to keep you guys informed if/when I know about any massive changes.  
> Thank-you all so much for your kind words and encouragement, keep the requests coming although I may save a few for oneshots which I will tag onto this fic in a series format. (I'll figure out the logistics this week).


	16. The Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feels. So many feels.  
> I may have subconsciously based some of the dialogue off of my own experiences.  
> Thank-you for reading!  
> (I'll save the rest of the A/N for the end of the chapter)

I didn't know where he was taking me at first, he just took me by the hand once we were out of the hotel and pulled me to walk with him. The sun only highlighted the marks on his neck, he didn't seem to care though, he just continued speaking excitedly about how the how the summer vacation was going.

"Do you think Kagami is going to get his revenge?" He asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Well he hasn't really figured out it was us yet." I replied. "Maybe we should tell him though."

He laughed. "Let's wait until we're not staying in the same building as him."

I had to agree with him there, it was less dangerous that way. We continued walking, the path had parted from the road and was sloping uphill. The breeze from the ocean gave us some relief from the summer heat as the conversation faded away, simply content with each other's company.

"So where are we going? I asked, unable to bat away my curiosity.

"Nu-uh. It's a surprise." He responded, letting go of my hand and sprinting ahead with a laugh. "I'll tell you if you catch me!" He called over his shoulder.

I shook my head slightly before sprinting after him, I forgot how fast he could be as he got further away. I followed him up the winding path, a lighthouse I hadn't seen before loomed on the edge of the cliff and I figured that we were going to end up there eventually. Not wanting to be beaten, I pushed myself to run faster, catching up to him within a few seconds.

"Why are we running?" I asked between pants as I ran alongside him.

He laughed and didn't say anything. We reached the lighthouse, it seemed disused and had been left to decay in the wind and ocean spray; the once white walls were stained grey, the few specks of blue paint clung to the wooden door that swung back and forth in the breeze.

Izuki sat on the grass overlooking the ocean, breathing heavily as I collapsed next to him, he smiled at me and nudged me slightly.

"You didn't catch me."

"Wha--" I uttered.

"You just ran beside me."

"What did you want me to do? Tackle you?"

He shook his head. "No..."

There was no elaboration, he took my hand in his again and rubbed a thumb over my knuckles. The roar of the ocean hitting the cliff below us drowned out any other sounds as we sat there. He fished his phone out from his pocket and bought up the video of Kagami getting pranked.

"I'm really tempted to send this to some of others just in case it gets deleted." He told me.

"Cause that wouldn't end badly at all." I dryly stated, leaning my head on his shoulder as he played the video back.

"I'd only send it to our team..."

"And Takao, who'd show Midorima and then god knows where it would end up after _that_. And if Aomine and Kise get hold of it then god help us."

He smirked. "Which is exactly why it would be so funny, everyone but Kagami would know."

"And here I was thinking I was the mean one."

He playfully shoved me, I lay back on the cool grass and sighed. He stayed on his phone for a few more seconds before lying on his side facing me, his fingers trailing up and down my chest slowly.

"Do you remember when we first met?" He asked, I raised an eyebrow as I cast my mind back to the middle school days.

"I remember the basketball club and how you've not really changed since then." I murmured. "You still look cute."

He blushed slightly. "Did you really think I was cute back then? Or is it just looking back you think I was?"

I smiled. "I dunno, I don't remember what I thought. I just remember meeting you and finding you easy to get along with."

"Even with the puns?"

"Even with the puns. I don't remember how I put up with them, especially after our defeats."

"Aren't you glad that Kiyoshi and I got you into basketball again though?" He hummed, hand trailing down to my stomach. "I mean, we never would've ended up here and never confessed..." his voice faded.

"You have Kiyoshi to thank for that I suppose, he was the one who kept bugging me about it."

He moved quickly, catching me by surprise as I found him straddling me for the second time that day. A hand either side of my head kept me in place as he leaned down, brushing lips against mine but not kissing me. He didn't say anything, he just hovered over me, breathing lightly as he stared at me with cold eyes.

"--did I say something wrong?" I murmured.

"You don't remember." He stated, voice cracking slightly. I struggled to think of what he was referring to.

"Remember..."

"I pleaded with you after you quit." He explained. "I tried to get you back into it. I knew you loved it so I just wanted you to be happy. You shut me down so many times, saying that it was _never_ going to work."

I swallowed, bringing a hand up to cup his cheek. He was right, he had asked me everyday if I was sure about quitting and if he could do _anything_ to change my mind. I always said no.

"You told me you were done with it, that you'd never play again. I accepted it for a while, even with Koga and Mitobe trying to convince you still."

"Shun..." My own voice faltered, My chest was feeling tight as he leaned over me, fists clenched in the grass and wide eyes staring at me in...no...it wasn't disbelief. It was hurt.

"And then he came along and you changed your mind." His voice was cracking more. "What was so special about _him_?" He sobbed, head turning away and completely avoiding my gaze.

How long had he kept these feelings a secret? He started to sob, he had kept this all bottled up for god knows how long and now he had finally broken.

I had to fix it. I had to fix the mess I had made. I had to fix him.

"N-Nothing." I replied. "Shun it wasn't him especially, he just approached it differently and followed me around everywhere. He wouldn't leave me alone about it!" I told him, reaching up with my other hand to fully cup his face. "Babe..."

"How did he succeed where I failed?" The tone in his voice startled me, the bitterness that was loaded into those words tore me apart more than anything.

I eased myself so I was sat up with him in my lap, he still wouldn't meet my eye so I kissed his cheek, trying to organise my thoughts enough to not fuck up what I was about to say.

"Shun...babe..." I kissed his cheek again and wrapped my arms around him, fighting back my own tears. "You didn't fail..."

He froze in my embrace, hands clenching against my chest.

"I-I didn't know you felt so strongly about it...I-I...there's no excuse really..."

"I didn't want to cause a scene." He muttered, the venom in his words fading.

"...were you jealous?"

His breathing was uneven, I didn't know what else to do except wait for him to reply, holding him in my arms as the warm sunshine bathed us.

"Yeah." He sniffed. "I-I was."

I closed my eyes and sighed, hating myself in that moment but brushing that aside as I pushed him away from my chest. His eyes were tearful and I felt a lump in my throat. I didn't say anything, I just gently wiped at his damp cheeks and slowly pressed my lips to his.

"I-I'm sorry." I murmured between kisses. "I'm so...so sorry."

He choked back a sob. "I know--"

"I didn't realise--" I uttered. "I feel like such a jerk now."

"Junpei..." He whimpered. "Don't blame yourself."

"No...I completely--" I had never felt so ashamed of my own actions. "And I call myself your best friend..."

He shook his head. "It's in the past now...it doesn't really matter. It was pretty stupid to bring it up now..."

"Hey. Don't say that." I told him, bumping our foreheads together. "It's not stupid, don't feel as if you can't tell me these things. I want you to feel like you can be honest with me-- I _love_ you Shun. I'm so sorry that I made you feel that way...I'll do anything to make it up to you."

"You don't need to." He whispered, barely audible over the ocean. "I love you too Junpei."

He kissed me slowly, parting my lips slightly and sighing into my mouth. I held him tightly, not wanting to let him go after everything that had been said. I rested my head on his shoulder once we parted and murmured more apologies. His hand stroked my back and told me that he didn't hold it against me anymore, that as long as I knew how he felt then it was okay.

There wasn't much to say, I wanted to hold him forever, I never wanted to make him upset like that again. I didn't want to see that look in his eyes or hear that bitterness in his voice ever again.

"We should climb the lighthouse." He told me, we had been sat in silence for a while and the sounds of birds overhead had stirred us from our thoughts.

"...why?"

"It'll get our minds off everything."

He stood up, grabbing my hands and pulling me with him. I didn't want to know why he suddenly wanted to get to the top of the lighthouse but I was gonna let him have his fun. The door was moving in the breeze so it opened easily, a wooden spiral staircase led up to where the bulb was - or rather _had_ been - situated.

"Shun I really don't think this is a good idea." I sighed, watching him test the first few stairs.

" _Hyuu_ -gotta loosen up." He remarked, knowing I would sigh and roll my eyes at his play on my name.

He bounded up like an excited puppy, I followed reluctantly. The giggles and squeaking of wood echoing off the curved walls as he reached the halfway landing and waited for me.

"Hey, do you think this place is haunted?" He asked, a shiver went up my spine.

"Funny." I poked his forehead as I stood next to him. "Now shut up."

"Ooh yeah you're scared of ghosts aren't you?" He grinned, my mind flashed back to the stupid ghost stories from the first week of our vacation and the time before that at his house.

"Do you want to get to the top of this thing or not?" I challenged. "Otherwise you'll be the one haunting it."

He laughed and took my hand. "You gotta admit that I _light_ up your life."

We got to the top, even if I wanted to scare him into thinking that I was going to actually kill him. The door out to the balcony was tougher to open, it squealed in protest as I forced it open and let in the stronger breeze. As we both stepped out onto the platform I felt uneasy, how old was this thing? How stable was it? Would the floor fall out from under us?

The view though, that was impressive enough to distract me. The ocean stretched out, reflecting the midday sun on the waves, boats glided through without difficulty both close to shore and further out, birds called to each other as they soared across the sky and over the water.

"It's quite a sight to _sea_."

"Don't give me that _line_."

He giggled. "Glad to see you're _onboard_ now."

I wrapped an arm around him. "Well it's as you'd say, better _lake_ than never."

"And this is why I love you." He remarked, kissing my cheek.

"If you tell the others about this then you'll be sleeping with the fish."

~*~

We didn't return to the hotel, we did leave the lighthouse though, walking hand-in-hand back towards the town. There weren't many things to do as it was a small seaside place but we wound up in the small Maji burger restaurant, feeling slightly out of place without the rest of the team but we shrugged it off as we sat down with our food.

"So are these kind of dates gonna become a thing?" He asked me.

"What kind?" I replied, feeding him a fry.

"Ones where we do slightly rebellious things and makes loads of puns." He smiled. "Especially the last part."

I sighed. "If that's what you want, although less life-threatening things would be nice."

"We were _fine_."

"That balcony could've collapsed at any second."

"Yeah but it _didn't_."

I threw a fry at his smug face, he laughed and threw it back. These were the moments that made me happiest, where we could drop the upperclassman act and just fool around, ignore the rest of the world, the pressure of high school and basketball matches, moments where we could have fun in each other's company.

"You may fall from the sky, you may fall from a tree, but the best way to fall... is in love with me." He retorted, holding up and examining a fry.

I raised an eyebrow and leaned forward on my elbows. "Do go on."

"I'm no photographer, but I can picture us together."

I chuckled, taking a sip of my drink.

"What did the paper clip say to the magnet? I find you very attractive."

I nearly spat it out, he grinned and tried to keep his composure.

"What is a vampire's sweetheart called? His ghoul-friend."

As much as I vocally complained about his jokes, they were _sometimes_ funny. A lot of the time they weren't but I laughed more at how excitable he became when he got on a roll, his eyes would light up and a cute smile  would spread across his face, especially if I groaned or sighed in response.

"Alright." I laughed, putting a finger to his lips. "No more, I've had my fill of your puns for the day."

He pouted slightly as I withdrew my hand but a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "You know what I wanna do though?"

"Hmm?" I hummed, biting into another fry.

"I want to sit on the beach and watch the stars." He looked out the window wistfully. "I don't know why."

It wasn't far from evening, I figured we'd easily be able to get there and watch both the sunset and the start of the night. Within five minutes of us finishing our food I dragged him out of the restaurant and took the lead down the street.

The sand was damp with the tide receding, we walked along the beach hand-in-hand, he kept sighing and remarking about how he 'should've known that I'd pull this'. I chuckled and merely cast my eyes over the ocean, it was calm and quiet with only the two of us here, a gentle breeze ruffled our loose shirts as we found a spot to sit and wait for the sun to set behind us.

He sat between my legs and leaned back into my hold, I wrapped my arms around him and nuzzled his neck, breathing in his scent. Taking his hands in mine, I kissed his ear lobe which made him shiver slightly and gained a breathless giggle from his lips.

"So is there anything else on your mind?" I whispered, the night was just beginning to fall and we had only kept up a light-hearted conversation in heed of his outburst earlier.

"No...not really." He sighed, turning his head to look at me. "What about you?"

I hummed, there was one thing that I wanted to ask but I never really wanted to broach the subject. After today's conversations I wasn't sure if it was the right time even then. Then again he wanted to be open with me so I wanted to be the same.

"How do you feel about my relationship with Riko? Like, how do you see us?"

He smiled and looked out across the ocean, darker than before but still glimmering slightly in the glow of dusk. He squeezed my hands and replied;

"I see you as close friends, which is good as far as team mechanics goes. It helps to have a captain and a coach who can confide in each other, I know that you both value your friendship." His voice was calm, no hint of the venom I had heard earlier, I sighed in relief.

"Okay, I just don't want you to feel--"

"However." He interrupted, tone growing more serious. "With Kiyoshi coming back I'm paranoid that the order of authority will change too much."

I wasn't sure what he was getting at, I understood that Kiyoshi and Riko were close and that I was letting the iron heart take more control, especially regarding the first years.

"Think about it." He murmured. "If Kiyoshi and coach are so close, would she bypass us and talk to him more. I'm not just talking about the team here I'm talking about as friends too. If he's so in love with her then would he pass up hanging out with us so that he could chase her?"

"So what you're saying is that you're upset that he's not hanging out with us much?"

Behind his calm exterior it was almost impossible to tell just _what_ he was saying. However I did have a few years of memories to fall back on.

"You know I don't play for glory or victory, I play so that I can have fun with some of my closest friends. For everything that I said earlier about him, I _do_ regard Teppei as a close friend, heck he's at my house every other weekend I swear." A small laugh broke the serious tone of the conversation. "I just think that since starting the club things have gotten a bit disjointed. It's not all about having fun anymore is it? It's about winning, and I'm not just talking about trophies."

"Winning what?" I asked, slightly lost. "Wait you don't mean that he's just in the club because of Riko?"

"No he's in the club because he likes basketball, he told me he enjoys it wherever he plays. What I'm saying is that outside of the club how many times have we hung out together just the three of us? Forget all the post-practice times and the study sessions, how many days have the three of us just sat in my room and enjoyed each other's company?"

"Twice? I think I'm partly to blame you know."

"Tell me, how many times has he gone out with you and Riko?" He asked immediately.

So that was it. He felt like we replaced him with Riko because of Kiyoshi's feelings towards her. He felt like the friendship we had was faltering, that it was almost like a love triangle because of dormant feelings.

"...I get it." I whispered, hugging him tightly. "You feel left out don't you?"

"I don't remember the last time that I was with you and him outside of practice or a match. He shows up at my house and we hang out, we talk in between classes and in the locker room but that's it. It's like..." he trailed off, sighing heavily and placing his hands over my own.

"It's like he's taken your place." I finished. "Well it's not true. You're still our point guard, you're still our vice captain, you're still here." I gently placed a hand over his chest, feeling his steady heartbeat. "He loves her and he just wants to be close to her. Just like I love you and want to be close to you."

He turned around so he faced me, carefully tucking his legs under him as he knelt there on the sand, placing a hand on my chest like I had done before he kissed me softly.

"It doesn't make it hurt any less." He whimpered, breath warm against my lips.

"I know. Tell you what, I'll talk to him before the semester starts and see if I can get him to hang out with us a bit more. We may have to promise not to be too lovey-dovey around him though."

"I can live with that, I just want my two best friends back."

I pulled him in for another kiss, pulling him on top of me as I led down. It was a lot darker when we eventually parted, the moon was slowly rising in the sky, calm water glinting in the pale light. My gaze focused on his eyes as he looked up with a small smile, the few stars that were visible dotted the darkness above us.

He slid off me and let me sit up, he became captivated by the night sky as we sat there. I became more interested in watching him point out the constellations and tell me about them, I never had him down for someone interested in astronomy but I indulged him, happy that he was happy.

"You know, I just thought of some cheesy song lyrics from a film my sister made me watch." He told me, eyes lit up in the silvery light of the moon.

"Really? What bought that on?" I replied, placing a finger under his chin and leaning closer.

"Just where we are and what we're doing."

"It doesn't require dancing does it? Cause I really don't wanna do that in the dark."

He laughed so hard that he had to take a minute to regain his composure. "N-No it doesn't but we can if you want."

"I'm good. What are these lyrics you speak of?"

He smiled and took my hands in his. I didn't expect him to _sing_ them to me but he did regardless and I wasn't about to complain about it.

" _Right here, right now, I'm looking at you and my heart loves the view, 'cause you mean everything.  
Right here, I promise you somehow that tomorrow can wait for some other day to be but right now there's you and me._ "

"You're right they are cheesy." I remarked when he finished. "But they're true."

He chuckled, still holding my hands. "I just...yeah. There's a line in there about thanking stars for making wishes come true so that's what made me think of it."

"Wishes eh?"

"Yeah...wishes."

I shook my head slightly and coaxed him to sit back in my lap, he faced me this time though and smiled, pressing his lips against mine. There was no urgency in the kiss we shared, it was slow and sweet, my hands took his face delicately, not wanting to break the contact so easily. He mirrored my actions, thumbs ghosting over my cheeks as I pulled him closer to me, our noses bumped and a surprised gasp escaped his throat.

We parted enough for him to fit himself in my hold and sigh in content. I ran a hand through his hair and kissed the top of his head. I then gazed up at the sky, the stars glittered in the void and the pale light of the moon shimmered on the water, the only light we had other than the distant street-lamps.

The lyrics he had shared with me seemed so poignant in that moment; that tomorrow could wait because all that mattered in those moments were the two of us and the feelings we had for each other. I didn't have the heart to drag us back to our room, not then anyway.

All I wanted to do was stay there and appreciate my boyfriend's love that got him so worked up earlier. I may not fully understand his feelings and sure he could've been over-dramatic about it but I cared for him. I didn't want him to feel sad, replaced, unwanted or anything of the sort.

I wanted him to feel loved and I was going to do everything to make sure he knew that I loved him to the moon and back.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, regarding the oneshot series;  
> \- I've got some requests already from the comments (Feel free to suggest some more, I always try to reply and let you know I've seen it/when I'll write it)  
> \- I haven't thought up a series name yet (it'll probably be something generic like Hyuu/Izuki oneshots but I dunno)  
> \- This fic will end before October 1st and the oneshots will begin soon after.  
> \- I am going to have another KNB fanfic running through October so I might be slower/less frequent at updating.  
> Also I'm hopefully going to have a part time job soon (fingers-crossed that the interview goes well) so that may throw my writing schedule out the window.


	17. The Demons of the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a rather...interesting chapter to write. People asked for tragic things and by the gods I hope I've not gone too over the top.  
> Trigger Warning: Emotional Abuse.

I could get used to waking up in his arms, as much as I enjoyed holding him it was nice to be the little spoon occasionally. He kissed my neck and hugged me tighter, pressing his chest against my back. It was one of those times where nothing could ruin the moment.

Except Kagami. The baka.

We must've forgotten to lock the door when we stumbled in after midnight, there was no other way the ace would've been able to get in, short of _breaking_ in anyway. Either way, his booming voice shattered the peace and tranquillity and I was going to do a Kasamatsu and kick him - literally - out the door if he didn't shut up.

"What are you yelling about Kagami?" I groaned, walking to the door of the bedroom, he was in the lounge and didn't show any sign of leaving any-time soon.

"What's this I hear about a video?"

Shit. I glanced behind me at Izuki who shrugged.

"I don't know?" I replied, knowing full well that there was only one video he would come barging in here about.

"I got some very questionable texts from that freaking point guard at Shūtoku, whatever his name is-- Taco?"

"Takao." Izuki corrected.

I instantly knew what had happened. Izuki sent the video to Takao and everything that I said would happen _was_ happening. With a sigh I put my hands up in front of me.

"What did he say?"

I was presented with the phone, messages lit up on the screen read;

_Looks like your senpais got you good Kagami!_

_What the hell are you talking about...?_

_I just saw the video~ ;P_

_Video?_

_Yeah! The video of you getting drawn on, tell them that our captain gives them props!_

I had to stifle a laugh, I made a mental note to murder Takao next time I saw him, that's if I survived Kagami's wrath. The red-head glared at me as I handed back the phone.

"To be honest, you do lack respect for us sometimes."

"So it _was_ you!"

"You were the one who assumed Aomine had anything to do with it."

I knew he wouldn't physically react, he didn't exactly seem amused either. "Well then, I suppose I'll have to get you back _captain_." He remarked after sighing heavily. "Especially as you dragged Kuroko into it."

I wasn't too worried, he saw himself out and I was about to demand Izuki explained himself when someone else walked through the unlocked door.

"Hope I'm not interrupting?" Kiyoshi asked when he saw my pained facial expression.

We told him about Kagami's outburst and he simply chuckled, we ended up sat in the lounge and spoke more about the upcoming months of exams and basketball. Izuki curled up next to me and didn't really say much, I guess that last night's conversation was weighing on his mind. When I bought up the idea of facing against the same team that caused Kiyoshi's injury last year Izuki visibly tensed.

"It is entirely possible that we may face Kirisaki Daīchi High." I sighed. "We haven't got our ticket to the Winter Cup yet after all and we know that they're also contesting for it."

"Hmm." Kiyoshi replied. "Hanamiya."

"That bastard." I uttered, wondering why Izuki didn't seem particularly into this conversation. Something in his actions must've ticked Kiyoshi off to it as well as the centre gave him a puzzled look.

"You...haven't told anyone have you?" He asked, I was in the dark but Izuki's eyes widened as he shook his head, sighing as he sat up straight and took my hand in his.

I looked between the two of them in confusion before Kiyoshi smiled sympathetically. "Remember what I told you Shun. None of it was your fault."

Now I was getting concerned, what on earth were they talking about and why were neither of them telling me? I didn't say anything, I squeezed Izuki's hand and tried to reassure him through actions rather than words. When he stayed silent I had to ask.

"What...what happened?" The question was directed at either of them. With Izuki staying silent Kiyoshi inhaled loudly and began to explain.

Just before the final of the inter-high preliminaries last year the two of them had walked home after practice, I had stayed behind to help Riko with some final preparations so they decided to take a more leisurely route. They stopped off at the local convenience store as Kiyoshi had to buy some things for his grandparents so Izuki waited outside, not really fussed about the delay as it was a nice day to stand out in the sun.

"So I was in there maybe five minutes? When I came out he was nowhere to be seen." Kiyoshi continued, leaning forward with elbows resting on his knees. "I thought that maybe he had gone home ahead of me so I started walking and was about to call him when I heard a commotion in the alley next to the store."

Izuki was staring at my hand, running his thumbs over my knuckles as his breathing quickened.

"...so?" I uttered, trying not to jump to conclusions and also trying to not get worked up.

"I saw Hanamiya pinning Izuki against the wall." Kiyoshi stated, a cold edge on his voice as he clenched his fists. "He had Izuki by the neck and was whispering something, I don't know what and Izuki hasn't told me either. I called out to him and he locked eyes with me, being an old rival of mine he simply smirked."

"What--"

"He kept his eyes on me and then..." His voice trailed off, looking at Izuki almost as if he couldn't bring himself to say.

"He kissed me." Izuki's pitiful voice uttered, he squeezed my hand and avoided my gaze.

My blood froze. The slimy bastard from Kirisaki Daīchi had forced himself on Izuki right before our match with them. In front of Kiyoshi. I understood why they didn't tell me, I probably would've killed him.

I pulled him onto my lap and hugged him tightly, he immediately started sobbing and choking out how he was sorry that he didn't tell me. I told him that I understood, that it was okay. As he continued sobbing I motioned for Kiyoshi to join us on the couch, he put a hand on Izuki's back as I tried to calm him down.

"I'm s-sorry." He cried. "I should've told y-you."

"Shh..." I whispered. "Hey, it's okay. I'm not gonna let him do anything else to you."

"You probably hate me."

"No, no I don't. I love you."

Kiyoshi didn't say anything, he just continued rubbing Izuki's back as I managed to gently cup his face and get him to look at me. After last night I didn't want to see the broken expression on his face but at least I was in a better position to solve this problem.

"I-I didn't want to cause a scene...and Kiyoshi got injured because of it--"

"That's not true and you know it." The iron heart cut in. "I got injured cause they play dirty. You had nothing to do with it. Besides, we're stronger this year so we'll be able to pay him back for everything he's done to us."

He paused, that honestly scared me more than the sobbing, his eyes were wide as he looked to Kiyoshi. "...he doesn't know about--"

"That's your call." Kiyoshi murmured before any explanation could be given.

I was starting to get a little troubled by how many secrets my best friend had been keeping. Did he simply not tell me these things because he didn't want me to over-react? Was it a case that Kiyoshi had been around more often? Had I let the captaincy get to my head and completely overlooked everything?

"You don't have to tell me..." I whispered, gaining his attention. "I'll understand Shun."

He shook his head. "I feel like I've lied to you."

"Shun, listen to me." I gently demanded, holding his face in front of mine. "What matters here is how comfortable you are. If you want to tell me then I'm all ears but if you'd rather not then I'm not going to be mad or upset with you. I'm not an ass like that."

The faintest of smiles ghosted over his face, he exhaled heavily and blinked slowly.

"A few weeks into the summer I was out with Koga and Mitobe, we hung out around the streetball courts and shot some hoops." He told me quietly. "I hadn't told them about the...incident so they didn't understand why I tensed up when I saw him again."

I raised an eyebrow but said nothing, Kiyoshi's hand was still rubbing Izuki's back reassuringly as he continued to tell me what else had happened.

"Well he came onto the court and started taunting me, making remarks about it right in front of them. I froze up and couldn't reply so he started getting up in my face, pretty much threatening to do it again."

My blood had thawed now and it was beginning to boil in frustration, if I had known about all of this then I would've definitely done something about it by now.

"So what happened?" I asked, my thumb wiping away one of the new tears that had fallen into his cheek.

"Some of the Tōō second years were walking back from an unofficial practice. Imayoshi saw what was happening and apparently knew Hanamiya, he walked over and pulled him away from me with a smirk. They had a heated exchange before Hanamiya sulked away. Koga and Mitobe needed to leave, they live the opposite direction to me so they made sure I was okay before leaving with Imayoshi, Koga told me to text him once I got home..."

"Hmm..." I replied, not entirely sure how to react to my rival protecting my best friend without an ulterior motive.

"He then asked if I wanted him to walk me home, just to be safe. I accepted because I was pretty shook up about the whole thing. He actually isn't that bad--"

"Did something happen between you two?" I asked, I couldn't help myself. I couldn't accept that Imayoshi of all people would be someone's knight in shining armour.

He didn't say anything. I almost regretted asking.

"It lasted two weeks." He breathed, avoiding eye contact. "He didn't hurt me...not physically."

"Not physically?!" I hissed, wincing at how aggressive I sounded. "Sorry...I mean...what _did_ he do?"

He pulled away from my grasp, taking my hands in his and locking eyes with me. "I was shook up okay? I didn't like Hanamiya kissing me but I was confused...I didn't want to ask anyone on the team because- I just didn't want to--" He huffed, closing his eyes briefly. "Anyway, I found myself asking him what I should do."

"Hold up. You were confused?"

He nodded. "To put it bluntly, I didn't like being violated like that but I didn't _dislike_ the sensation. I asked Imayoshi what I should do and he spoke with me about it, mainly asking why I hadn't told you guys. He said he understood though...he seemed like he was actually going to help."

I really didn't like where this was going.

"We met up, I only told Kiyoshi because I was going to visit him in hospital afterwards, we sat in Maji burger and spoke about it all, he took my hand halfway through the conversation and things...escalated."

I shot a glance at Kiyoshi, he wasn't giving anything away.

"Before I knew it we were outside, he had an arm around my waist and was tugging me towards an alley."

"Oh god...don't tell me he--" A finger was placed over my lips. He stared at me with troubled eyes.

"Just hear me out. Please. It's hard enough as it is..." he uttered.

I nodded, batting down the urge to defy him.

"He pinned me against the wall, I wasn't sure what was happening. It was just like before, I felt out of my depth and out of control...two things I hardly felt because of my eagle eye."  His breathing was getting unsteady as he went on. "He leaned close to me and whispered things in my ear, just taunts and jeers about how I couldn't even talk to my own team-mates about it, how it was dirt he could use against me, how he would _always_ have the upper hand on me now. Hanamiya had physically violated me but Imayoshi...he-he was going to mentally torture me. Knowing full well that all he had to do to ruin me would be to tell you."

He didn't say anything else. I didn't want to push him but I had to know before I launched into how I was going to bust the bastard's head open.

"...anything else?" I uttered. He shook his head. I cradled his face in my hands, he averted his gaze. "Shun..just--"

"Don't Junpei..." he whispered, near tears again.

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologise!"

"Shun--"

"You have nothing to be sorry for!" He broke into sobs again.

"I should've noticed something was off. You should've been able to confide in me as your best friend. Oh hell what kind of friend am I?"

"You're a good one." Kiyoshi stated, I had nearly forgotten he was there. "You had other things to worry about, Izuki told me everything and I was the one who told him to move on and not tell the rest of the team."

A silence fell, Izuki just kept sobbing, I felt terrible for making him tell me but I couldn't find the words to say anything. My fingers closed around my phone and I very nearly called the third year to give him a piece of my mind but thought better of it.

"Next time I see him--"

"No!" Izuki sobbed. "Junpei no. _Please_...don't say or do anything."

I sighed, looking at his distressed face. I couldn't say no. As much as I wanted to beat Imayoshi and Hanamiya to a pulp in that moment, he didn't want me to. I forced a small smile and drew him into a hug, Kiyoshi nodded in approval at my reaction as the smaller boy buried his face in my shirt and sobbed.

It took a while for Izuki to calm down, the entire time I just held him and murmured over and over again that his past was behind him now, that our relationship wasn't going to suffer because of it. I told him I was never going to purposely hurt him, I was always going to try and make him happy and never _ever_ treat him like the two of them had done.

"And remember, I love you. I don't want you to feel used, violated, unloved or left out. I'll do anything I can to make sure of it." I finished. He sniffed loudly, the sobbing had stopped but he was still a wreck really.

"I'll see myself out, it looks like he needs you right now." Kiyoshi murmured to me, patting my shoulder.

"Thanks Teppei." I replied, he smiled and nodded, ruffling Izuki's hair as he left. I kissed the top of Izuki's head, rubbing his back with my hands as his ragged breathing continued. "Hey, maybe we should take a shower, get you cleaned up and warm. I'll call room service yeah? Oh maybe they can get you some coffee jelly."

He lifted his head to meet my eyes, his were red raw after all his crying and lacked the excitement that usually pooled in them. It broke my heart seeing him like this. Slowly, I leaned forward and kissed him. There was nothing that could be said to ease the pain but I was going to try my hardest.

"Babe...tell me what you want me to do." I whispered. "Do you want food? Or a shower? We could just go back to bed--"

"Just hold me." he breathed. "I just want to be held."

"Okay...should we go back to bed then?"

He nodded, falling against me as I stood up and carried him back into the bedroom. I led him down and told him I was going to call the front desk and ask them to send up some food in a few hours for us. In the few minutes it took me to place the order he was already half asleep.

I closed the bedroom door and turned the light out, leaving us with the dim light coming through the small covered window. I crawled next to him and wrapped us up in the blanket, taking off my glasses in the process and pulling him closer.

"Better?" I asked, stroking his cheek.

"Yeah...thank you." he smiled weakly. "For everything Junpei."

"Don't worry about it. I just want you to be happy."

"You're too good..." he was fighting the urge to sleep in the warm dark room.

"No. I could be so much better, for a start I--"

He lazily kissed me, shutting me up despite his lips hardly moving against mine. He finally gave into sleep. I smiled and tucked his head under my chin as I hugged him. I wasn't actually tired but I wasn't going to leave him now, I spent a while sending texts to various members of the team telling them that we weren't going to be around again. With our days left here numbered I was aware that we ought to have one final night of chaos and fun but I wasn't sure what to plan or even I should be the one to plan it.

I also sent an update to Riko, leaving out most of the details but I felt like she needed to know about how these two rivals of ours had treated Izuki. I didn't actually tell her anything, only that I needed to talk to her before the term started which of course meant she was instantly worried. I managed to stop her calling me there and then by telling her that we were about to eat together and that I couldn't tell her in public.

Once my phone was switched off I actually began to feel somewhat sleepy. Izuki had barely moved within my hold, occasionally he'd sniff loudly or mumble something under his breath but for the most part he was still and silent. I pressed small, light kisses to his cheek and forehead, feeling the warmth and smoothness of his skin, my fingers gently running through his hair as I coaxed myself to sleep.

"I love you Shun." I whispered. "I love you so much."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer:  
> There are actually some sentences in there that accurately sum up some pretty bad memories for me and some of the dialogue are quotes of things that were said either to me or in my presence regarding situations very similar to that of Izuki's experiences.  
> I did this to make it more believable but obviously I've touched on what can be linked to a serious issue and I do not condone any of the behaviour spoken about in this chapter.  
> If I have deeply upset anyone I do apologise.


	18. The Mending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this was like a day late (possibly 2 idek at this point).  
> Basically I wrote the entire chapter out and then had a mental breakdown, came back to the chapter and decided that it was too emotional/dark for me to post. I did save a copy of the first draft so maybe I'll upload it one day but for now at least it's going to stay in the folder of shame.  
> Anyway! So it's nearly October and I said I'd be finishing this before then, I'm going to write TWO more chapters before moving onto my next project and start writing the oneshot requests (this'll include ideas for this fic that didn't get written in for one reason or another).  
> So yeah! Thank-you so much for being patient, believe me that I felt so guilty when I couldn't get an update out yesterday due to real life shit.

There was still something that bugged me about the whole situation. Izuki had said that him and Imayoshi had a thing for _two weeks_ , what had happened to split them up? Was it even a relationship? More importantly, how the fuck did I not know about it? I would've thought the demon captain would've said _something_ by now just to rattle my cage and terrify Izuki.

I leaned my forehead against the cool tiles in the shower, the steady spray of the water hitting my back and soothing my thoughts. I really didn't want to cause him more pain by asking him to remember it all but at the same time it was going to eat away at me until I knew what had happened to render my best friend so broken.

He was still asleep, I wondered how the hell someone could sleep so much because this was getting ridiculous, it was nearly five in the afternoon and he hadn't really moved. With a towel draped over my shoulders I leaned down and gently shook him, his eyes opened slowly and he looked up at me in a daze.

"Morning."

"It's nearly evening actually." I remarked, offering him a hand so he could sit up. "Food will be here shortly."

"I don't really feel like eating." He mumbled, looking like a lost child. I knelt down so I could look him in the eye.

"What's up?" I asked.

He looked uncomfortable as he sat amongst the blankets, lost almost to the world and to himself. He avoided my gaze as the silence hung in the air.

"The more I think about it all...the stupider I feel."

I sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Hey, don't get yourself down about it. You were in a vulnerable state and he decided to be an ass--"

"No, not that. I mean, the whole not telling you part." He uttered. "I mean. I had a fling for two weeks with a _rival captain_."

I wanted to just hold him close to me in that moment and never let him go. He really felt bad about it all didn't he?

"This fling." I breathed. "I feel like a jerk for asking but what happened?"

He shook his head. "It was mostly over text, I let him hear my thoughts and feelings...I-I didn't know what his motive was and I still don't."

"You didn't...do anything with him?"

He shook his head again. "The one time we met, other than the alley situation, was after practice once, it was when it ended."

"Shun you don't have to--"

"He told me that he was done with me...and that was it."

"How did you play against him all those times afterwards though?"

He laughed, it was a sarcastic laugh that left his body, it didn't fit him at all.

"I buried it Junpei. I buried it so deep in my memory that I didn't care about it. He couldn't hold it against me if I couldn't remember it."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I felt like I had been punched in the chest as I considered that he had really gone through all of it alone, that he hadn't told me because he feared my reaction, that he kept it to himself.

"The only thing I can remember is..." He let out another sarcastic laugh but I could hear the heartbreak behind it. "He kissed me just before he ended it and he said that I 'enjoyed the little game'. The fucked up thing is that I _did_ enjoy it. That's what made me realise I was gay."

I stood up, my thoughts were a mess, I could hardly breathe as I processed exactly what had happened and how I had been so fucking blind to it all. As I stared at the door, weighing up my options, I heard a weak sob.

"You hate me don't you?"

I whirled around, he had his head in his hands and fingers tugging at his hair. If there was a single moment that I hated him it certainly wasn't now. It took me barely seconds to fall to my knees in front of him and pull his hands away, I got hold of his tear-stained face and held him, pressing my forehead against his.

"No. I love you." I whispered, my voice shaking. "You were used by a spineless bastard. I hate _him_. I could never hate you Shun."

"But what he did to me made me realise I was gay and if he--"

"I believe you would've figured it out on your own." I told him. "You're smart, you're observant, you can read people really well. You would've figured it out and I would've stood by you regardless of my own feelings."

He choked on a sob, his eyes slipping shut. I had to find a way of snapping him out of this, a way to distract him.

"Come on, you need a shower." I stated, standing up again and pulling him with me. "No arguing."

He let me drag him into the bathroom, standing there sniffing like a lost boy as I fumbled with the controls of the shower. Once the water was running I gently coaxed him to undress, pressing light kisses to his shoulders as he clung to me, cheeks still stained with tears. I got him under the water, he seemed a little calmer now at least.

"You always know what to do." He murmured, letting me lather his back in soap as I stood under the spray with him. "Why is that?"

I shrugged, kissing the back of his neck. "Instinct I guess. Just take it easy babe, let me take care of you."

He nodded, I kissed his neck again as I focused on soothing his tense body. My fingers glided over his back, pressing into the space between his shoulder blades before moving around to his chest, not dwelling in one area too long. He pressed back against me, a small hum resonating from him.

"Better?" I whispered, slightly adjusting the shower speed and taking one of his hands in mine.

"Yeah..." He sighed.

"Good, do you want me to wash your hair?"

He shrugged, his eyes were closed and a faint smile was on his lips. I took it as a yes and reached for the bottle, running my fingers through his hair with care. I turned him to face me, gently pushing away the few strands of hair that stuck to his forehead as I tilted his head back under the water to rinse away the shampoo.

"You're hair's getting long again." I remarked as his hands clung to my shoulders.

"Maybe I can swing by your dad's shop and get you to cut it." He smiled. "You can tell him I'm your boyfriend."

"Yeah...no." I poked his nose. "I mean sure I'll cut it for you but let's not break that news so abruptly to my father."

"I suppose it could turn into a _hairy_ situation."

I smiled, pressing my lips to his briefly. "It could _grow_ on me."

"I think it could be _hair_ -larious."

I chuckled, it was good to have the Izuki I knew and loved back. "So it might be, anyway we really ought to eat something."

He shrugged. "I suppose you're right."

"Damn straight."

"No I'm gay, we've spoken about this."

I pushed his head under the spray of the shower to prove a point. He laughed and dug his fingers into my shoulders again before I demanded that we got out. The shower definitely seemed to have cleared his head a bit as he was back to his normal jokey self. His good mood only increased as the food I ordered arrived and his eyes lit up at the coffee jelly.

"Junpei." He shook his head at the tray in front of him. "You didn't--"

"Have to? Of course I did, my boyfriend was going through a tough time so I called the front desk and asked them to send us some for his favourite food." I replied, offering him a spoon. "You haven't eaten all day so you can start with this but then we're going out to dinner."

He smiled. "And where are we going?"

"Nowhere special, probably Maji burger again but you need to eat something and get out of this room."

He didn't protest which I was partly thankful for. It didn't take long for him to eat the dessert, a relaxed smile settling on his face as he put the empty dish back on the tray. We did end up at the familiar burger joint, it was a quiet night for the staff, although the cashier did tell me about three teenagers nearly clearing them out of food earlier that day - I refrained from asking if they had blond, red or blue hair - so we didn't need to worry about getting interrupted.

We sat in a booth, I didn't realise how hungry I was until I smelt the freshly fried food in front of me. He giggled next to me, I shot him a slide glance as his giggles became louder.

"What?" I asked, biting down on one of the last fries.

"You were lecturing me about not eating." He murmured. "And now you're acting like Kagami when we were at that steak house."

I could feel the blush on my face as he giggled again. "Tch, well...I mean."

"No, you're not getting out of this one." He remarked. "Next time you lecture him about his eating etiquette then I'm going to remind you of this--"

"You will not." I told him, trying to hide the smile.

"How are you going to buy my silence then?" He raised an eyebrow. Despite everything that he had been through he was still confident of himself, or maybe it was just that I was the only one he was comfortable around.

"How would you _like_ to be paid?"

He just laughed and shrugged. "I don't mind."

I was not about to let him get away with not saying what was on his mind. "No do tell me, what would you have me do to buy your silence?"

We locked eyes, he leaned closer to me, breath tickling my ear as he let out another giggle. "Things that I wouldn't let anyone else do to me."

A shiver went down my spine as he took my ear lobe between his teeth. I clenched my fist on the table and tried to keep my breathing stable as I felt his hand on my thigh.

"Y-You're unbelievable." I uttered.

"Am I though?" He whispered, hand slowly trailing up my thigh towards my crotch. "You and I both know where this is going to end up."

I swallowed. "So I guess you're going to--"

"I _am_ the control tower of Seirin." His hand was now ghosting over the bulge in my shorts, why on earth did he decide to do this _here_?

"F-Fine. We better get going then."

~*~

"You want me to _what_?" I asked as he stripped off his shirt.

"Make me forget. I want you to fuck me so hard that I forget all about what they did to me." His tone was enough to prompt me not to argue, that and the fact he had gotten me to strip to my underwear before pinning me down on the couch within two minutes of getting back to the hotel.

"I-I..." I didn't know how to respond to his demand, he kissed me hard, biting down on my lip and silencing any words I was trying to utter. He moaned into my mouth, fingers digging into my shoulders as he lowered himself onto my lap.

"If you want to..." He whispered. "I don't want to force--"

I recaptured his lips, my hands squeezing his ass as I pulled him closer to me. "As long as your comfortable." I kissed him again, softer than before. "You call the shots here, just like you do on court."

A small smirk appeared before he ran his hands through my hair. "I call the shots eh?"

I hissed as he rolled his hips against mine, both of us already hard and only thin pieces of fabric separating us from each other. He kissed my neck and dug his fingers in deeper, I squeezed his ass and tugged at the waistband, I didn't know what he wanted from me exactly but I was willing to do whatever it was.

"I wanna ride you." He told me, rolling his hips again.

It took a second for me to process the thought with the heat between us building. "Ri-Ride me?"

He nodded, seeking approval, not that he really needed to.

"Do we have any--"

"I don't want it, I want to feel you inside me like that first time." His eyes were serious and I could do nothing but swallow and nod.

He pressed a rough kiss to my lips, tongue flicking against mine as I moaned, his fingers were still digging into my shoulders and it was almost painful. I was given relief when one hand trailed down my chest and cupped my bulge, I hissed into his mouth, he sighed and tore himself away from my lips, moving to breathe heavily in my ear as he pressed his own excitement against me.

"Fuck I just want you inside me." He exhaled.

I didn't say anything, my boxers were becoming too tight for comfort and I could feel the dampness already, I let out another moan as his hand dipped below the waistband and closed around my cock. As he began to stroke me I thrusted up into his hold, desperate for friction and momentarily losing myself. As quickly as he had started, he stopped. Softly kissing me as he moved enough for me to help him out of his underwear.

"Oh God--" He gasped as I ran my thumb over the head of his cock. " _Junpei_."

"Hm?"

Lidded eyes met mine as I continued to rub the sensitive tip, smearing it with the precum he was already leaking, gently curling my fingers around his length as I slowly stroked him. Ignoring my own hardness as he started to come undone on top of me with gasps and moans.

"Do it." He uttered, it wasn't a command or a plea, it was more of a confirmation.

I nodded, easing him off my lap long enough to rid myself of the last article of clothing I needed to, giving myself a few strokes until he stole my hand away. As he slid himself back into my lap, our erections rubbing together in a blissful burn, he took two of my fingers in his mouth. I raised an eyebrow as I felt his tongue swirling around the two digits, catching the traces of my precum still left on them.

Once he had sucked on them for a few moments he let me slide them out from between his slightly swollen lips. I kissed him deeply, replacing my fingers with my tongue as I gently prodded at his entrance. He whined slightly into my mouth as I pressed inside, the tightness was almost familiar to me now although the lack of lube was probably going to make things slightly more raw.

"M-More." He breathed, breaking away from my kiss and pressing his forehead against my shoulder. My free hand stroked his back as I added the second finger, he let out a shaky breath as I began to quicken the pace of their thrusting.

"You sure you don't want any--"

"I'm good." He cut me off, lightly biting my shoulder and causing me to shiver.

I added a third finger, it hadn't been slicked up so I imagined it burned slightly, he didn't seem to complain as he murmured cuss words over and over again in time with my thrusts. His fingers were digging into my chest, leaving red marks for me to explain away at a later time.

He started to roll his hips again, rubbing our cocks together as well as pressing back against my fingers, whimpering for me to move faster and harder. I couldn't hold back the small hisses and moans that spilt from my lips with the sweet friction he was offering, there was only so much more I could take.

"Alright." I whispered, licking the shell of his ear and eliciting a higher pitched moan from him. "You want it?"

He pushed himself to sit up right as I withdrew my fingers, his eyes were darker now, his more predatory side coming out again as he nodded. I honestly had no idea what to expect when he spat on his hand but I didn't question it, he stroked my cock a few times before slowly lowering himself onto it. The change in angle threw me off and I let out a choked moan as I felt his heat closing around me, he hissed through gritted teeth as my hands lingered at his waist.

"F-Fuck..." I breathed. "H-Holy shit Shun."

He sunk down, completely taking me inside him, my hold on his waist was sure to leave bruises as I resisted the urge to thrust up into him.

"So good..." he sighed, taking a few moments to adjust to my size.

Hearing him say that made my grip on his waist falter, as he slowly began to lift himself up I felt his thighs trembling slightly. I trailed a hand over the milky skin to soothe the muscles, my other hand resting on his lower back but not holding him in place, he was the one who wanted to do this after all.

"In your own time." I whispered as he kissed my jawline. "But sooner rather than later."

He let out a breathless giggle. "Impatient are we?"

He was in control of the pace but that didn't mean I could resist thrusting into him for long, his agonisingly slow movements proved too much for my self-control as I snapped my hips up, burying myself inside him in one movement. A loud moan escaped him and his body's reaction to clamp around me pulled a choked gasp from my lips. He kissed me as he regained control, or as much control as he could handle as he started to increase his pace. I felt him bite down on my lip and drag his fingernails down my chest before he started to stroke himself.

My hand left his thigh and came down on his ass with a satisfying slap. He jolted forward slightly in surprise, the tip of my cock brushing against the small bundle of nerves inside of him. He whimpered into my mouth, choking out a plea for me to do it again. I obliged, enjoying the heat swallowing my cock with each thrust and the needy gasps falling from his dirty mouth. His hands were forever moving, stroking him or scratching my chest, slick with a combination of precum and saliva as he kept changing hands. His lips brushed against my neck, occasionally travelling up to my ear to catch the sensitive skin in between his teeth.

"More." He hissed, catching me completely off guard as he shifted his hips, I felt myself brush against his sensitive spot again and took back the control; thrusting up into him and hitting the spot directly. His back arched as I continued, both his hands flying to my shoulders in a desperate attempt to keep himself from overbalancing.

"What was that?" I whispered, punctuating my sentence with another thrust. He merely moaned in response, cheeks flushed and eyes shut as he dug his nails into me again.

His cock was rubbing between us, red raw at being ignored and coated with precum, I knew I'd only have to stroke him a few times for him to come completely undone. With one hand resting on his lower back still to steady him, I trailed two fingers down his stomach, he was using all his concentration to continue riding me so he only responded to my touch when I cupped his balls.

" _Junpei_..." he sighed, eyes cracking open as he watched my hand slowly move to stroke him.

"Hm?" The haze of my own arousal was starting to affect my actions as my shallow thrusts became sloppy.

Without thinking I brought my hand up to my lips, his scent was strong on my coated fingers, his eyes widened as I licked one of my fingers. As he was still entranced by my fingers I bucked my hips up, hitting that spot again and pulling a high-pitched moan from him, starting to set a punishing pace as he gave up trying to keep control.

"Please..." he begged into the crook of my neck.

"Please what?" I grunted, seeking to end this soon as I knew I couldn't hold back for much longer.

"Come inside me."

With the position we were in it would take longer and I didn't have that stamina. It took a few seconds to move him so he was led on his back, a change of angle and I could press in deeper. He whimpered as I paused to hook one of his legs over my arm to give me even better access, my own orgasm starting to drive my actions more than my thoughts.

He didn't even try to hold back his moans anymore, with each thrust he got louder and his voice would crack. I pressed kisses to his neck and collarbone as I stroked him roughly. A warmth was building in my stomach as his body finally gave out, his voice cracked again and he let out a filthy high-pitched moan. My hand and his stomach were coated in his come, with my cock feeling him tighten around me it only took a few more thrusts to bring me over the edge. I buried myself fully inside him as I came, he whimpered slightly as I stilled.

"...you okay?" I panted after the feeling of euphoria had subsided, leaning over him and brushing his hair aside so I could look him in the eye as I slid out of him. His eyes were glassy and he was breathing heavily as he looked back at me with a tired smile.

"Yeah...yeah."

I nuzzled his neck and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Was that okay?"

He nodded, wincing as he tried to roll over. "Maybe lube would've helped."

"I did try to tell you but you were--"

"Shh..." He placed a finger to my lips. "I'm sleepy."

I shook my head and lightly slapped his thigh. "Rest then, I'll take care of you."

"Best boyfriend ever." He hummed, trying not to fall off the couch as he shifted his weight.

"And don't you forget it." I remarked, hoping to hell that the housekeeping didn't notice the smell of sex in the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise that all of the angst is done now (there may be references still) and it'll only be fluff and good times for the last two chapters.  
> also I have no idea what possessed me to randomly throw smut in there, I think I may have had a request for it and it just...happened.  
> I have no regrets.


	19. The Thread

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost don't want to write the next chapter 'cause it's gonna be so feelsy x3  
> Anyway, one more chapter to go (and I'll be posting a deleted scene after that) and then it's straight onto the oneshots and the Halloween project!   
> I'm still unemployed (much to my family's annoyance) so I have a shit load of free time.  
> Also; I have posted an Aka/Furi oneshot - it was a vent piece - so yeah go check it out if you want.

Getting the second years to hang out by the pool was a simple task, all I had to do was persuade Fukuda to take the first years somewhere else and just not tell the aces about it, although I could see it coming back to haunt me eventually. Kiyoshi pulled me aside and asked me how Izuki was and I told him that there wasn't anything to worry about, I'd get Izuki to come clean to Riko at some point before our next meeting with Tōō and everything would be fine.

"So who wants to play volleyball again?" Koga asked, playfully shoving Tsuchida into the pool. Mitobe picked up the smaller boy and dropped him in too on behalf of the other.

"I mean what could possibly go wrong?" I shrugged, watching as the two of them started splashing each other. "Maybe we should just play catch or something though?"

There wasn't much objection as the rest of us got into the pool, there were a few remarks about the fading marks on Izuki's chest but it wasn'a huge deal, these were our most trusted friends after all. The ball was thrown back and forth, many dramatic dives were done resulting in a lot of water being splashed, it quickly descended into general fooling around.

Koga then got the idea to climb on Mitobe's shoulders and get Tsuchida to try and knock him off, which was _always_ going to end well. It ended better than I hoped when Izuki nudged the back of Mitobe's knees and sent them both into the water. It was a good thing that no-one else wanted to use the pool.

Kiyoshi shook his head at them as Koga decided to try and get his revenge on our point guard, I leaned against the pool wall and watched Izuki try to wriggle out of Mitobe's hold. The hilarity continued for a while, at times I wondered if we were really second years with the level of maturity being exhibited but I shrugged it off for the most part.

"Well at least he's back to his usual self." Kiyoshi murmured to me as Izuki jumped onto Koga's back and pulled him backwards under the water.

"Yeah. I think he feels better now that he's told us...well, me." I replied, smiling at Mitobe putting his hands up in defence when Koga looked at him accusingly.

"I'm glad, it had been eating at him for a while now."

"Really?"

Kiyoshi nodded. "He couldn't decide when would be the best time to tell you, or even if he _should_ tell you."

Tsuchida swam over to us and joined us as we watched the others. "You talking about Izuki coming out?"

"In a way." I murmured. "Did you figure it out?"

He shrugged. "I had a suspicion, I didn't want to assume anything."

Mitobe caught Izuki by surprise whilst he was distracted by Koga, dragging him under the water with one arm. Koga laughed as the point guard wrestled free, the laughter being cut short when he was also dragged under.

"Does anyone actually have a plan for the rest of the day?" I asked both of them. "Otherwise we may end up with the first years coming back."

"God I can imagine Kagami just running and jumping fully clothed for some reason." Kiyoshi chuckled.

Before I could ask again Izuki swam up to me and dragged me into the centre of the pool, I squeezed his hand as I felt the eyes of the others on us - what on earth was he up to now? He smiled, pressing a kiss to my cheek and wrapping his arms around my neck as he hugged me. I held him, my feet brushing the bottom of the pool as I kept us afloat.

"What's all this then?" I whispered.

"I just wanted to hug you." He murmured. "And thank you."

"For what?"

"Just everything; being there, accepting me, listening to me..."

I shook my head slightly, he didn't need to keep thanking me for something I would've done regardless. "It's not just me you know, we're all here for you."

"Hey, you two should kiss!" Kiyoshi called, I showed him my middle finger in response for ruining the moment. Izuki didn't seem fazed though, he pulled away enough to capture my lips with his. There was a wolf-whistle from someone we eventually parted. Sometimes I did wonder how we put up with our team-mates.

~*~

We eventually got out of the pool, mainly because everyone actually got tired, it was nearing the middle of the afternoon so the hunt for food was on. None of us wanted fast food, the endless evenings of Maji burger were going to give Riko an excuse to kick our asses as it was, we heard of a small but popular restaurant that served cheap food not too far away from our hotel. We figured that we could sit and eat together for the first time since the first years joined the club without danger of death from Riko's cooking.

"So who's paying for this?" Koga asked as we sat down at a table.

It was quite a charming little place; traditional wall art and sliding doors separating different sections of seating, we were sat on red cushions around a polished oak table as the menus were handed out.

"We all pay for our own food." I replied, nodding to the waiter before turning back to Koga. "Just 'cause I'm the captain doesn't mean that I'm in charge of everything."

That gained a laugh, after much debating and bickering about how Mitobe would be able to eat anything Koga left behind, we decided to buy a group serving of yakitori - seeing as it was summer still. There was idle chit chat about everything from basketball to what type of fish Koga preferred to eat - salmon apparently - but as usual the conversation steered towards more personal matters.

"So captain." Koga remarked, leaning forward from across the table.

"Yes?" I replied, casting a weary eye to Mitobe who was sat next to him.

"Out of you and Itsuki, which one tops?"

Izuki choked on the sip of water he had taken, I sighed and coughed loudly. "Wha-I mean, _why_ on earth do you want to know?"

Kiyoshi and Tsuchida were struggling to contain their laughter, Mitobe just blinked at me as Izuki continued to splutter and turn red next to me.

"There may or may not be a bet with Kagami..."

"You what?!"

"He was the one who started it!"

"When I see that baka I'm going to--"

I was interrupted by the food arriving; chunks of chicken skewered on bamboo sticks with a side dish of seasoned rice. It at least managed to distract them long enough for the question to remain unanswered.

"What day of the week do chickens hate the most? _Fry-day_."

"Oh god here we go." I uttered, picking up my bowl of rice.

"What do you call a haunted chicken? A _Poultry-Geist._ "

"Please no..." Tsuchida sighed, a small smile on his face as Izuki just continued.

"Why did the chicken cross the basketball court? He heard the referee was calling _fowls_."

"Someone shut him up." Koga groaned.

"Nah I think you deserve this." I remarked with a smirk.

Koga gave me a pained expression as we were subjected to a few more horrific puns, eventually even I couldn't stand anymore and had to put a stop to it. I reached under the table and trailed my hand up Izuki's inner thigh, stopping just short of his crotch, it shut him up at least even if I did get a slightly suspicious look from Kiyoshi.

~*~

The decision to have them return to our room seemed like a good one, what I hadn't anticipated was the door being open already. At first we assumed that housekeeping had forgotten to shut it but I was very sceptical of that.

"Are the lights on?" Koga whispered as we stood outside. I peered through the ajar door, it was dark and the drapes were pulled across the balcony door which was slightly unusual.

"Do you think someone broke in?" Kiyoshi asked, placing a hand on the door frame.

I shook my head, hand closing around the door handle and ever-so-slightly easing the door. I heard something drop and the shift of an object. Someone had set this up.

"Okay, give me your phone." I nodded to Izuki, he handed it over without a word. With the camera flash I could see some kind of thread criss-crossing from behind the door to the bedroom door and then on further into the room. "The fuck..."

"You think Kagami decided to get his revenge?" Izuki murmured.

"You think he's smart enough to pull this off?" Tsuchida remarked

"If he got the others involved then possibly, I imagine Aomine and Kuroko had something to do with it." Kiyoshi replied. "So are you gonna try and figure out what it's all hooked up to or are you just gonna fling the door open?"

I snorted, if they thought I was going to play into this trap then they had another thing coming. After sighing heavily and cracking my neck, I slipped through the gap and into the unknown, leaving the others outside to decide whether they were going to help or not.

There were more pieces of thread than I thought, they were strung up in an almost impossible pattern, there didn't seem to be any particular direction to go so I just concentrated on getting to the balcony door, my goal was to open the drapes as Izuki had tried to turn on the lights but the switch seemed to be broken - or sabotaged.

I found myself humming the mission impossible theme as I slowly made my way through the maze, I heard movement behind me and found Koga attempting to help.

"Captain I--"

"Shh, I think this is rigged to turn ugly if we rip any of these threads out." I hissed, trying to focus on two things at once. "Just...I'm going to open the drapes and we'll work from there."

Koga kept quiet, I continued picking my way between the thread. When I found out who was responsible for this I was going to make them pay big time. I probably should've checked that Koga could actually see where he was putting his feet, a few seconds of silence had passed before I heard a loud thud followed by the sound of something heavy shifting.

"Ow..."

"Koganei..." I sighed, turning around to find him on the floor and the couch two feet closer to me, he smiled briefly before a slightly uneasy expression replaced it.

"Uh...th-there's..." He pointed behind me.

I raised an eyebrow before following his gesture, I was face to face with two bright blue eyes illuminated by the eerie glow of Izuki's phone. The few seconds that followed consisted of me staring at them half in surprise and half in terror, then stepping back a few inches too much and catching my heel on one of the thicker pieces of thread. I found myself on the floor staring up at the ceiling in the same dim light, my side hurt and Koga was whispering at me.

"Captain? Hyuuga?" He nudged my head as I tried to figure out what the fuck had just happened.

"Eh?"

"I think it was a ghost."

"Yeah. The one on our team." I sighed. Sitting up and shining the light in front of me expecting to find Kuroko, instead I found nothing. "...or not?" My voice shook.

"You pulled about twenty threads when you fell over, I think half the furniture shifted."

I sighed heavily, shining the light around to see how much of the space was filled with these god damn pieces of thread. I heard voices from the doorway before the door fully opened, the sound of thread snapping and shifting furniture surrounded me before I suddenly felt very...wet?

"Was that a bucket of _water_?" Koga exclaimed, this entire situation was bewildering. The lights were switched on and I saw Kagami looking very smug along with the first years and the other two aces.

"I told you I'd get my revenge captain." He remarked.

Now that I could see, it was a wonder that the bucket had fallen when it did. The thread that triggered the bucket falling eventually led to the main door however it was held in place by the dozens of other pieces that were all wired up around the room. If we had opened the door straight away it may have fallen but due to the sheer number of other threads it could've fallen at any time.

Kiyoshi was impressed, I had to admit that it was quite clever but I wanted to know who had _really_ set it up. After inflating Kagami's ego a bit more and surrendering the prank war I asked who had the brains to get everything set up. I kind of expected Aomine or Kuroko but it was actually Seirin's own first years.

"You two?" I asked, looking between Kawahara and Fukuda. "Why?"

They both shrugged with a smirk. "You left us out of the Kagami prank and we thought it would be funny."

Izuki laughed which set everyone off, I wasn't mad at any of them as we had kind of started it all. It was just another one of those incidents we'd bring up over post-practice meals and maybe in the lockeroom, it wasn't going to be forgotten any time soon at least.

"So what now? I mean we're all here so--" Furihata started.

"You can start by helping us clean all this shit up." I stated, gesturing to the threads still intact.

There was a little grumbling but it got done, we all sat in the lounge area with an impressive pile of multicoloured thread on the table. I should've known it would only be a matter of time before someone suggested something stupid.

"You know what we should do?" Kise asked, wide-eyed and smiling.

"What?" Aomine replied.

"Do you remember that game we played at Midorimacchi's house that summer?"

"The murder one?"

"Yeah!"

Aomine grinned. "And Tetsu ended up winning?"

The blond nodded, the rest of us were in the dark until the two of them decided to enlighten us. Apparently there was this game they played in middle school which involved a number of pieces of paper, one marked 'murderer', one marked 'detective' and the rest blank. Everyone took one piece, the detective would declare himself to the group whilst the murderer stayed quiet, the lights would then be turned out and the murderer would move around the room and kill someone by touching them. Once someone had been murdered then the lights would be turned on and the detective would have to question everyone to decide who the murderer was.

"Tetsu kept winning because we could never tell if he was lying." Aomine finished. "Kise can't lie for shit, Midorima always seemed suspicious and our captain was too good at seeing past my façade."

"And our other team-mate was always the one who ended up dead."

"Lucky bastard." Aomine uttered. "Anyway, so that's the game...you guys up for it?"

With a lack of better ideas we agreed, Kise set to work marking up the pieces of paper whilst we waited and had Aomine go over the rules again. It was decided that Kuroko wouldn't actually play and would work the lights instead, therefore making it a little easier on the rest of us, to also make it fairer Kise put all the pieces of paper into a bowl and mixed them up.

I held my breath as the last piece was taken, Kuroko told us to look at our pieces and for the detective to declare himself. Koga punched the air in victory as he held up the slipped that said 'detective', within a few seconds we were plunged into darkness. Kise giggled and some of the first years muttered back and forth, there wasn't a rule to say that we couldn't talk but it seemed appropriate.

The seconds seemed to pass slower than usual in the dark, I almost wondered if someone was even going to get murdered. A strangled scream broke the silence and then a light thud resonated, another few seconds passed before the room was bathed in light, Kagami led on the floor with his tongue poking out like a dead animal.

"What a shame." Aomine sighed, rolling his eyes. "Then again it is Bakagami."

Koga set to work questioning us, he was allowed two guesses before the murderer would reveal himself. I exchanged glances with Izuki as Koga tried to get a straight answer out of Kise. After a few minutes Koga sighed and pointed at Aomine.

"Eh? No. I mean I wished I had but no I'm not it." He grinned in response, showing his blank piece of paper.

Another round of questioning took place, I had my suspicions that it was either Kise or Kiyoshi but I didn't know for sure. Eventually Koga accused me and I just showed him the blank slip in my hand.

"Seriously?" The cat-faced one sighed. "Alright who was it?"

Fukuda raised his hand with a grin. I could tell this game was going to cause a lot of trust issues. We played a few more rounds, slowly getting to know how to tell when we were lying to each other and when we were putting on an act.

It was one of the final rounds before we called it a night, I stuck my hand in the bowl and fished out the slip. When I saw the word murderer written in Kise's surprisingly neat handwriting I knew exactly who was going to be the victim. With Kagami as the detective I made a point to remain stoic like I had been for the past three rounds.

The lights went out, I waited until Kise and Aomine started arguing about some incident from the last time they played before making my move. I pressed my lips to Izuki's cheek before gently placing a hand over his neck to signal that he was the victim, I felt him smile as he dramatically 'died'. I quickly made sure that I was back in more or less the same place before the lights turned on again.

"Oh shit Izuki." Tsuchida remarked.

I had to act surprised enough to throw off suspicion but not too much to attract attention. It worked at first, Kagami seemed to believe me when I seemed unimpressed that someone would pick Izuki over anyone else. However when he questioned everyone else it seemed that there were no leads.

"So no-one heard anything?" He asked sceptically, eyeing Koga who was on the other side of Izuki.

"I just heard him die." Koga shrugged.

It took Kagami another few minutes to accuse someone outright. "Kiyoshi."

The centre shook his head with a smile before showing the blank piece of paper. Kagami's eyes narrowed as he looked around the rest of the group, a silence fell before Izuki sat upright suddenly and scared the shit out of me.

"You're supposed to be dead baka!" I told him as he laughed at my reaction.

"I'm _dead_ sure that's something the murderer would say." He remarked. "And not a lover."

I struck my hand against my forehead as everyone else laughed or groaned at his pun. "Shut up."

"It does sound like a confession to me." Kise chimed. "Kagamicchi what do you think?"

"Alright captain, I accuse you."

I sighed and glared at the red-head as I showed the slip of paper. Kagami punched the air in victory as everyone else laughed. Izuki moved closer to me and kissed my cheek, I swatted him away half-heartedly before playfully punching his shoulder.

"You murdered your own boyfriend? How could you captain?" Koga asked as the game was abandoned due to exhaustion and we all sat on the floor.

"It was a tragedy on par with Romeo and Juliet." Izuki remarked, falling dramatically so that his head was resting in my lap.

"Except neither of us are that stupid." I poked his forehead.

"Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"

I rolled my eyes, this was not the time to be reciting Shakespeare. It took a while but eventually, after Izuki had tried and failed to slip more references to classic novels in to conversation, everyone decided to leave us for the night. We agreed to eat together tomorrow lunchtime as it was our last full day here and we wanted to spend most of it together. Once Kagami collected all the pieces of thread I saw him out, closing and locking the door behind him.

Izuki was out on the balcony, the night sky lit up above him as I rested a hand on the small of his back. He leaned against me as I stood beside him. We didn't say anything for a while, enjoying the peacefulness whilst we could.

"To think that our first kiss was here." He hummed, tilting his head to smile at me, the gentle breeze ruffled his hair as I considered everything that had happened between that night and this one.

"Yeah...crazy huh." I murmured in reply. "Would you have done it sooner if you knew I swung that way?"

He shrugged. "Possibly. I think the alcohol gave me the push I needed, not exactly ideal but I think it turned out for the best."

I wrapped an arm around his waist and kissed the top of his head. "I'm glad it happened."

"Me too."

"You do realise that I'm not gonna be able to treat Imayoshi with any kind of respect anymore."

"Yeah...well I'm glad I finally told you. I wanted to tell you I really did, but I didn't know if you'd be able to look at me the same ever again."

It stung to hear those words but I sighed and turned to face him, taking his face in my hands and kissing him. He smiled into the kiss, hands moving to cover mine as we parted.

"Well you're never gonna have to think like that ever again. Nothing could ever make me look at you in a bad way, you're my best friend and now my boyfriend. Sure I can't promise that it'll always be plain sailing or that I won't get frustrated from time to time but I won't think any less of you for anything that happened in the past."

He smiled, eyes watering slightly as he replied. "Thank you."

"I love you Shun."

"I love you too Junpei."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna be away from my laptop for most of tomorrow as I'm off to Cardiff to watch my team play in the rugby world cup but I'll respond to any messages/requests/questions asap! (I don't really want to explain to my 74 year old grandfather what fanfic is and why I don't get paid for it...so yeah I'll probably read them on my phone but I may not be able to respond!)


	20. The Moments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them." - Bob Dylan
> 
> And I'm dead cause of feels.  
> I spent a night at a friend's house and that pretty much set the mood for this chapter so...yeah!  
> I'll be uploading another chapter made up of deleted scenes and whatnot (as it was requested) and then I shall officially begin writing/uploading the one shots and the Halloween KNB fic.

It was the last day of our stay in the hotel, I would've been content to stay by the pool for the entire day but apparently there were plans already made. It started out with lunch at Maji burger - no surprise there - before we found ourselves back at the camp-site from where we had made a bonfire. I wasn't overly sure exactly what the plan was as we stood in the dazzling sunshine and waited for Kiyoshi to explain.

"We're gonna play hide and seek in the forest." He declared with a smile. "Just a bit of light hearted fun to end our vacation on."

"So is it gonna be first years versus second years?" Kagami asked.

"You really think we're letting all three of you go on one team? I don't think so." I remarked.

The group was split into two teams; Kagami, Kise, Tsuchida, Furihata, Izuki and I were going to be the seekers first with the rest of them getting a two minute head start to go an hide somewhere in the foliage. As soon as they were gone Kise launched into complaining.

"They're gonna win because they have Kurokocchi..." He sighed. "He's too good at hide and seek."

"Yeah but _I'm_ here so we'll find him easily." Kagami boasted.

"Now you're sounding like Aominecchi, 'The only one who can find Kuroko is me'."

"That's bullshit!"

I exchanged glances with the others, the bright side of this was that maybe the two aces would be more determined to work together as opposed to against one another. We timed the two minutes before I gave the go ahead to start searching. The shade that the trees offered was welcome in the heat of the afternoon, it was actually rather relaxing to be meandering along the dirt paths and poking about in the greenery.

As expected, some of the other team were hiding in more or less plain sight but we hadn't seen or heard any sign of Aomine, Kuroko or Mitobe. Izuki had been making endless puns about forests again and I was ready to abandon him halfway down the trail when he stopped and stared into the overgrown foliage.

"What is it?" I asked, taking his hand in mine.

"I thought I heard something..." He uttered, taking a careful step off the path, tugging me to follow him.

"If we get lost then I'm blaming you." I told him. He laughed and squeezed my hand.

"It might be one of the others."

"Or a deer."

A grin spread across his face. "Or a ghost."

A shiver ran up my spine before I let go of his hand and playfully slapped his head. "Don't joke about that shit."

He laughed again. "You're too cute."

I felt myself blush, sighing heavily as we poked around the area of waist-high grass that could've been hiding one of our team-mates. We spent ten minutes there before deciding to return to the path, as he walked in front of me I felt something brush against my back, I froze as his suggestion resurfaced in my mind.

"Junpei?" He called over his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"...are you sure there's no-one here?"

He turned around and gave me a puzzled look. "Yeah?"

A breeze rustled the branches of the trees overhead, the leaves hissing around us as I remained frozen to the spot. His expression softened as he took a step towards me with his hand outstretched.

"I was kidding about the ghost Junpei." He smiled. "This forest isn't haunted."

I swallowed, reaching out for his hand. Another breeze passed through, this time a voice startled me so much that I launched myself into Izuki's arms and caused him to fall backwards into the grass.

"Captain?"

"Kuroko don't give me a heart attack like that!" I barked, pushing myself up off Izuki's chest and coming face to face with the first year. He regarded me with the same stoic expression as always but there was a small glimmer of amusement in his eyes as Izuki laughed from underneath me. "And you shut up!"

"I didn't say anything!" He protested.

"I don't care, shut up!"

He pouted and trailed a hand over my shoulder. "Someone's grumpy cause he saw a ghost."

"It wasn't-- I wasn't scared."

He laughed harder, Kuroko offered me a hand to help me back on my feet. I tried to hide my blush as Izuki poked my sides and lightly joked about me being scared of nothing. We gave up trying to find the other two and just headed back up the trail, hearing Kise calling for Aomine through the trees and Kagami shouting at him for being so loud.

We found the rest of our team, they had successfully found Mitobe so it was just the Tōō ace who was still missing. It took another twenty minutes for him to be found by the other two aces and we were waiting even longer for the three of them to make their way back to the edge of the forest.

"So I won? No surprise there." Aomine grinned.

"Shut up Ahomine." Kagami uttered. "You cheated by hiding _in_ a tree."

"There were no rules stating I couldn't."

Kiyoshi cleared his throat loudly, silencing anymore bickering. He gave us the nod to set off, Izuki immediately took off, I followed him as he ran back down the path. I didn't realise how far this particular path went into the forest until the leaves overhead began to block out most of the intense sunlight.

"Shun!" I called, he stopped and waited for me to catch up, breathing heavily but smiling.

"Yeah?"

"Where are we?"

He shrugged, looking around. "Kiyoshi said as long as we stick to the trails then we can go as far as we like. Besides, they know which path we went down so they won't be completely in the dark."

I glanced around, the foliage here was more scarce and it was a lot cooler. The trees no longer grew straight up but were more twisted as they fought each other for sunlight, providing some rather interesting formations that one could easily sit in if they were to climb up them.

"You think this is far enough for now?" I asked. "I don't really want to go too far..."

He took my hand in his. "It's okay, I'm with you. I'll scare away any ghosts and ghouls."

"I'm going to kill you if you mention it again."

We settled for hiding behind a fallen tree, the trunk was wide enough to obscure us from the immediate view of the path so we sat resting against it, waiting for someone to come along. Izuki rested his head in my lap, my fingers ran through his hair absent-mindedly as the sounds of the forest filled the silence, the birds chirped and the wind rustled leaves, I wasn't freaked out anymore, I was actually beginning to relax.

"Did you hear the joke about the oak tree?"

"Please don't."

"It was _acorny_ one."

I sighed.

"What kind of tree grows on your hand? A _palm_ tree."

My fingers tugged at his hair, beckoning him to sit up. I pressed my lips to his in an attempt to shut him up before someone heard him. He smiled into the kiss and hummed into my mouth as he parted my lips. I couldn't help myself as my tongue brushed against his. Just as his fingers dipped below the hem of my shirt we heard someone approaching, I thought quickly and pinned him on the floor right next to the fallen tree.

He bit his lip as he stared as me with wide excited eyes, the thrill of getting caught was one thing but getting caught in this position was something else entirely. He wriggled a hand free and covered my mouth as voices pierced the silence.

"You sure they came down this path Tetsu?"

"I'm sure."

"I don't think your senpais would've run this far down..."

I felt something press up against my crotch, he raised his eyebrows as he slowly dared to move his knee between my legs. I wanted to snap at him but with Aomine and Kuroko barely metres away that would just make things ten times worse. He continued, if it wasn't for the agonisingly slow pace I probably would've been losing control already, my heart raced, my grip on his other wrist tightening as a warning which he ignored as he applied more pressure.

"A'ight. I think we should go back up, I wanna find Bakagami."  
   
The footsteps faded away back up the trail, as soon as they were out of earshot Izuki's hand vanished from my mouth and replaced his knee on my half-hard erection.

"You're fucking unbelievable." I murmured, kissing his neck as I savoured his touch. "What if they had found us?"

"Then it would've been very entertaining," He whispered, fingers rubbing against me. "I mean, you're so easily turned on by me--"

I silenced him with a rough kiss, he was getting cocky again and this was not the most ideal place for me to deal with it like I wanted to. He moaned slightly, his hand coming away from me so he could cup my face. As much as I wanted to continue I knew that I'd be pushing my luck and the boundaries of my self-control.

"We should stop, someone might catch us." I breathed against his cheek. "Also I don't really think the floor of a forest is the most practical place in the world to continue."

He sighed and nodded, stealing one more kiss before we sat up again. The relaxed silence from before fell, I was beginning to feel somewhat sleepy in the afternoon warmth.

"What trees do ghouls like best? _Cemetrees_."

"I mean it when I say I love you but for the love of god please stop making puns."

He giggled. "When is the month that most trees fall? _Sep-timber_."

This was going to be a long afternoon.

~*~

We were eventually found by Kiyoshi and Fukuda, apparently Kise was the last one that was still hiding as we got back to the forest entrance. The late afternoon sun was casting an orange light over the foliage as Aomine and the others continued their search.

"So where were you two?" Furihata asked us.

"Somewhere in the deeper parts, you?" Izuki replied, arm loosely wrapping around my waist as he hugged me from the side.

"I climbed up into one of the shorter trees, Koganei found me pretty quickly though." He rubbed the back of his neck as he chuckled. "You guys know what we're doing this evening?"

We both shook our heads, as far as I knew Kiyoshi was planning everything so it wouldn't be too chaotic. Even so, with our group who knew what was going to happen. It took a while but Kise was eventually found, much to Aomine's glee when he managed to startle the blond out from hiding - or at least that that it _sounded_ like going by the shriek we heard.

After a few minutes the group came stumbling out from the forest, Kise was half-whining at Aomine for sneaking up on him and Kagami was just laughing at the two of them. We got told that we'd be spending the evening on the beach, I wanted to ask what Kiyoshi was up to but he just patted my head and told me not to worry. Izuki kissed my cheek whilst I was muttering about how patronising Kiyoshi could be, an all knowing smile gracing his face.

"Lighten up." He whispered. "At least you're not in charge for once."

"True."

"Just relax, you'll be back to work yelling at all of us in a few days. Enjoy the rest of the night, for me yeah?"

I couldn't deny his request, not when he squeezed my hand and looked at me with those calm eyes that I found so much comfort in. With a nod we followed the rest of them down the path the led to the beach, the heat of the day was dying so it was a cool and comfortable evening, even more so with the ocean breeze.

Tsuchida and Kawahara had been busy in the time that it took to locate Kise, they had arrived ahead of us and build a small fire like the one from a few nights ago. There were already a few small embers catching at the base of the wood pile when we all arrived.

I shot Kiyoshi a glance, he was pointing to where the wood wasn't catching light and telling Mitobe to try and get it going. I remembered how much he was like a father figure to the team, especially with the first years that he had taken under his wing in just the few weeks he had known them. Sometimes I thought that he'd be a better captain than me but he had been adamant that I take it instead, something about me screamed 'captain' apparently. As we sat on the sun-baked sand I asked Izuki what he thought.

"Kiyoshi is a good leader in the team but I feel like you're more focused. He's almost too nice in a way, you're not afraid to call someone out on their errors in training and make us question ourselves..." He spoke softly, holding my hand in the steadily growing firelight. "But you're also very encouraging, we know what you expect from us as a team and we know that you acknowledge how much effort we put in day after day. I'm not saying that Kiyoshi doesn't, I'm saying that you've built this team and you're still going one hundred percent to get us to the Winter Cup."

I was almost speechless, I wanted to hug him and never let him go, I didn't realise that he regarded me so highly.

"Itsuki is right!" Koga exclaimed, startling me slightly from my other side. "You're a great captain, you always give it all you've got, sure you're kinda scary when you enter your clutch mode but that just fires the rest of us up."

Mitobe tapped his shoulder and made some kind of gesture before Koga turned back to me. "Mitobe says that he's glad you decided to play again, he loves playing basketball with all of us and wouldn't trade it for the world."

I nodded, still unable to think of any decent response.

Izuki squeezed my hand, offering a warm smile as the fire popped in front of us. I locked eyes with Kiyoshi, he nodded as the rest of our friends spoke excitedly about the upcoming training, Kise and Aomine seemed quieter than usual, perhaps they were debating how they were going to be able to play each other in the coming weeks whilst still dating.  
   
"So does that settle your worries?" Izuki asked me, leaning his head on my shoulder.

"Yeah..." I murmured. "I had no idea that's how you guys felt about me."

He chuckled. "Well you truly are oblivious then aren't you."

"Hey!"

He laughed again, thumb running over my knuckles as he pressed himself into my hold. I let go of his hand momentarily so I could wrap an arm around him. The final traces of the sun were fading and being replaced with the clear night sky. In the glow of the fire we relaxed, joked around and even convinced Kise to lead us in a short-lived karaoke session. The slow steady sound of the waves were lulling us all into a calm state of mind, the flames licking at the sky and dancing in the salty breeze, the distant chirping of the cicadas was the only other sound to grace the silence.

"Kurokocchi?"

"Yes Kise-kun?"

"How many photos have you taken?"

There was a pause as the first year examined his phone from where he was sat in Kagami's lap. "At least two hundred."

"Eh?!"

"And that's the ones he hasn't posted online yet." Kagami murmured, resting his chin on the younger boy's head. "He's sent a few of them to himself via email so he could clear out his phone's memory."

I rolled my eyes, at least we'd be able to look back and smile at the memories we all shared these past three weeks, I'd probably have a lot of explaining to do if Riko asked but I think she knew we'd get up to some crazy things. Even if she wasn't satisfied, I'd just send Kiyoshi to deal with her.

"You should take some now!" Kise clamoured. "Like back in middle school..."

The faintest smile crossed Kuroko's face before he nodded. No-one objected to posing for the camera phone as it was focused on us, after a while Kuroko actually let us have his phone to take more ridiculous selfies and soon enough there were three different phones being passed around the group.

The fire hissed as Izuki pressed a kiss to my cheek. I watched as he fished his phone out of his pocket and selected the camera, giving me a wistful look.

"Go on then..." I sighed with a smile. "Make sure you get my good side."

"That's all of you then." He whispered, capturing my lips in an innocent kiss, I heard the click of the camera and then another one. We both turned to Koga who pointed at Kiyoshi who had one of the phones that had been circulating the group.

"Who's phone is that?" I asked.

"Kise's."

I couldn't find it in my heart to be mad, everyone was going to know within two days of the new term anyway and it wasn't like we were ashamed of it either. With a shrug I looked back at Izuki, he smiled and giggled.

"You know, fire is a _hot topic_."

" _Now_ you choose to start making puns again?" I sighed.

"Is your name summer? Because you're _hot_."

"Don't start mixing them with pick-up lines!"

"What happens when you fall in love with a French chef? You get _buttered_ up."

I could feel myself blushing, Koga and Kiyoshi watched me as Izuki laughed at himself. He continued for a while until I pressed a finger to his lips, locking eyes with him as I withdrew it slowly.

"I love you." I murmured. "Even with your terrible puns."

He smiled. "I love you too, even with your grouchiness."

"I am _not_ grouchy!"

I heard laughter from behind me as Koga lost his composure, soon everyone was cracking jokes again and I wanted to just walk into the ocean and never come back.

What stopped me was just how much I enjoyed hearing my team-mates laughing, even if it had been at my expense to begin with. We had spent so many hours ruthlessly training that the puns Izuki made were sometimes the only thing that would give us some kind of relief, even if it was only him laughing. To hear them so carefree as we sat around a bonfire on a deserted beach in the middle of the night, it made me happy.

"What was that song you were singing during the fireworks?" I asked Izuki. "The one about small hours?"

"Do you want me to sing it?" He asked without hesitation.

I nodded. He got to his feet and offered me his hand, I took it and let him pull me to stand next to him. Everyone looked up at us with a mixture of confusion and expectation. He smiled at me again before taking a breath.

" _Let it go, let it roll right off your shoulder, don't you know the hardest part is over?  
Let it in, let your clarity define you, in the end we will only just remember how it feels_

_Our lives are made in these small hours, these little wonders, these twists and turns of fate.  
Time falls away but these small hours, these small hours still remain_ "

He let go of my hand and started walking around the fire, watching the flames dance as he passed them. I was just captivated by his voice and the lyrics and just _everything_ about him in that moment.

" _Let it slide, let your troubles fall behind you, let it shine until you feel it all around you.  
And I don't mind if it's me you need to turn to, we'll get by, it's the heart that really matters in the end._

_Our lives are made in these small hours, these little wonders, these twists and turns of fate.  
Time falls away but these small hours, these small hours still remain_."

All eyes were on him as he returned to me and took both my hands in his. I didn't expect him to guide one of my hands to his waist and leave it there as he placed his now free hand on my shoulder. I quickly put two and two together and came to the chilling realisation that I didn't know how to dance.

"Wait Shun I don't--"

He raised an eyebrow and took a step forward, I followed his lead, dancing on sand wasn't probably the greatest idea but I wasn't really in a position to complain as he continued singing, not giving me a chance to object.

" _All of my regret will wash away somehow but I cannot forget the way I feel right now._  
_In these small hours...these little wonders, these twists and turns of fate..._  
 _Yeah, these twists and turns of fate--"_

He guided me through the steps, back and forth occasionally to the side but I wasn't even keeping track as I was much more focused on how his body moved in the warmth of the fire and the gaze of our friends.

" _Time falls away, yeah but these small hours and these small hours still remain_  
_Ooh they still remain, these little wonders, oh these twists and turns of fate_  
 _Time falls away but these small hours, these little wonders still remain..."_

He trailed off, I had gotten a hand on the basics of 'dancing' as it were, heck I didn't even know _he_ could dance but I guessed there were some things about him I still had to discover. The silence was broken by Bakagami.

"Hey, you two should kiss!"

I flipped him off but leaned in and pressed my lips to Izuki's anyway, my hand still lingering at his waist, there was a wolf-whistle from someone and then Aomine shouted that we should get a room already. Ignoring the ace's remark, we sat back down and the murmur of chit-chat took over again. I tuned most of it out, savouring the few hours we had left together before we'd be thrown back into the harsh training sessions and study periods.

It was moments like these that made me thankful that Kiyoshi had been so stubborn when recruiting me for the basketball club, that Izuki had stuck by me all this time, that Koga, Mitobe and Tsuchida threw everything into that first year as a team.

Thankful that we had been gifted a group of talented first years that were all proving valuable players and would no doubt continue to do so, that we had been sent away for three weeks together, that Kise and Aomine had shown up with alcohol and gotten us all drunk...

That in the drunken haze, the murmured words and lingering glances from Izuki hadn't escaped my attention, that we had managed to overcome the fear of losing our friendship in order to be something more. The road wasn't going to be smooth but it was one I was prepared to walk as long as he was there with me, we'd always have our friends backing us, we just had to be brave.

I knew I wasn't going to remember the exact date we officially became a couple, he probably did and he'd remind me at some point down the line. I wasn't too bothered though, I knew that in life we don't remember days, instead we remember moments.

He caught my eye and softly kissed me, smiling into the kiss and a small breathless giggle escaping him as he pulled away. I caressed his cheek, stroking the smooth skin that the fire illuminated and gazing into the bright eyes of my boyfriend.

I wanted to remember moments like this for the rest of my life.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is basically just gonna be me fangirling over the number of kudos and comments.  
> Because I honestly didn't expect this fic to be as popular as it is, heck it's still growing.  
> I'm just blown away with all the kind words and enthusiasm from those of you who have commented and inspired me to do a oneshot series/collection/whatever (idek)  
> It just give me so much hope for my future, as weird as it sounds, because I've always been reluctant to show people my work - I'm a perfectionist so if I show you something I made it means I either think it's fucking perfect OR I'm having a random burst of courage - so to receive such positive feedback really gave me some much needed confidence in my life!  
> And I just wanna say thank-you really, I mean I hope you stick around to read my two upcoming KNB projects, feel free to leave a comment or a request, I do my best to reply to everyone. (because I know how daunting it can be to leave feedback and not receive a reply.)
> 
> So yeah! Thank-you all so much for reading/leaving kudos/commenting etc and I hope you enjoyed it.  
> \- Bryn


	21. Deleted Scenes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wrote Chapter 18 and to cut a long story short; I felt it was too dark for the mood of the main fic so I rewrote the chapter - which is the one that got uploaded - however some of you have expressed interest in knowing 'how dark' Izuki's past could've been.  
> So here is the first draft of the chapter and basically the story of how Izuki found out he was gay.  
> And the first draft of the beginning of chapter 20 was thrown in here because it didn't make the final cut (for obvious reasons) but wanted to upload it anyway.
> 
> **TRIGGER WARNING: Emotional manipulation and Sexual Abuse.**

**Chapter 18 - Izuki's darker past**

He was still asleep, I wondered how the hell someone could sleep so much because this was getting ridiculous, it was nearly seven in the evening and he hadn't really moved. With a towel draped over my shoulders I leaned down and gently shook him, his eyes opened slowly and he looked up at me in a daze.

"Morning."

"It's evening actually." I remarked, offering him a hand so he could sit up. "Food will be here shortly."

"I don't really feel like eating." He mumbled, looking like a lost child. I knelt down so I could look him in the eye.

"What's up?" I asked.

He looked uncomfortable as he sat amongst the blankets, lost almost to the world and to himself. He avoided my gaze as the silence hung in the air.

"Shun..." I whispered, getting the vibe that there was much more to this story than he had wanted to tell me. Maybe he didn't want to remember.

"I-I can't."

I took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "What do you mean?"

"I can't play against him."

"Imayoshi?"

He nodded. "He'll know. He'll _know_ I remember."

It wasn't beyond the bounds of possibility, the demon captain had this unsettling vibe about him, it was almost like he could smell the weakness in his opponents. I didn't know what to do, Izuki wasn't crying, not yet anyway, but he was certainly disturbed still.

"Okay." I breathed, shifting so I was sat more comfortably. "Shun, tell me exactly what happened between the two of you. I can only help you get through it if you're open with me. Nothing you say is going to push me away, I'm not going to think any less of you and I won't tell anyone without your consent."

Despite the circumstances, he smiled and squeezed my hand. Part of me didn't want to know because I knew I'd have more reasons to give Imayoshi a knuckle sandwich, however that was outweighed by my concern for how this was effecting him from both a boyfriend and a captain's point of view; if Izuki didn't play against Tōō then we'd have to rely on Furihata to be our point guard unless we shuffled the team around, and neither option seemed ideal.

"I-I..." he uttered, looking down at his free hand. "I just...I wish I had found out another way."

I wanted to ask, by the gods I wanted to ask but I restrained myself. He had to tell me in his own way.

"After practice, I don't remember when it was exactly but it was warm weather." He continued, eyes still fixed on his hand that was clenching into a fist. "I walked home alone, he just appeared out of nowhere and..."

He bit his lip, he seemed to be willing himself not to cry as he inhaled heavily. I squeezed his hand again to offer reassurance.

"He took me back to his house, I-I didn't have a choice really...this was after the alley incident so I wasn't really happy with the idea but--" He exhaled, squeezing my hand and clenching his fist as he got his thoughts straight. "No-one was home so I was pretty much at his mercy."

I found myself gritting my teeth behind closed lips, the slow burn of frustration was building in my chest as I listened to his broken and defeated voice recount this all to me. I remained silent, remembering what he said earlier about it being hard enough as it is without being interrupted.

"We were in his bedroom, he was...he wasn't as confident as he is these days but he was certainly more in control than I was. He kissed me, I remember he _grinned_ into it..." his voice trailed off, eyes wide and trembling slightly. "He started touching me, pulling me closer to him, hands under my shirt and at my belt--"

I pulled him into my hold as he sobbed, I didn't want to go back on my word but I wanted him to spare me the details, I didn't want to hear what that bastard had done now. I got the picture.

"He kept whispering in my ear about how being 'a good boy' and that I'd be 'rewarded'. That I had been 'well-trained by my captain'..."

My eyes widened at that. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

He shook his head. "I-I don't know Junpei...he just kept telling me these things as he pinned me to the bed. I told him to st-stop but he just _laughed_."

"Shun...yes or no, did he force you to do anything sexual?"

He paused which did little to quell my fears, he had said that he hadn't been physically hurt by Imayoshi but that didn't mean that Imayoshi didn't force him to do something.

"You remember when I first went down on you..."

"Yes?"

"Well that's the only thing he got me to do, he said it was something that would prove if I was really gay or not."

"He forced you to do that to _him_?!"

"Junpei...the fucked up part was that I actually enjoyed it."

"Don't say that it's fucked up, sure he was an ass to force you into it but...the fact you enjoyed it isn't necessarily a 'bad' thing."

"I enjoyed it..." he repeated, completely defeated. "Like some kind of who--"

"No." I snapped, pushing him off my chest and holding him by the shoulders. "Don't say it. Don't you _dare_ say it. I don't care what you think but you are _nothing_ like that."

His eyes were teary, he had actually split his lip with his consistent biting. "J-Junpei..."

"He's an ass. He used you and that is _not_ your fault. Listen to me, I'm not going anywhere Shun...I feel horrible for not properly asking you about this before having sex--"

It was his turn to interrupt. "I wanted it." He stated, voice cracking. "I wouldn't have let you if I didn't. I wanted to forget what he did to me, I wanted _you_ to be the only one I'd let touch me like that again...I love you.."

"I love you too..." I replied, grip on his shoulders softening. "This is all so fucked up..." I breathed.

He slowly nodded, sighing heavily. "Yeah..."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I murmured.

He shrugged. "I guess I didn't want to worry you. The team needed a strong captain and I didn't want to burden you."

I groaned slightly. A small smile tugged at his lips. "Okay, promise me you won't keep things from me again. I don't care how big or small it is, I don't want you to put the team ahead of yourself, that's _my_ job to balance everything."

For a split second I thought he was going to argue but he smiled at me. "I promise. Only if you promise the same."

I nodded, hand moving to cup his face and thumb gently pulling at his bleeding lip. "I promise."

He mirrored my actions, hand caressing my cheek and coaxing me to lean closer to him. Our lips met somewhat hesitantly, the taste of blood wasn't exactly pleasant but I looked past it as he climbed onto my lap.

"Thank you." He murmured, tongue poking out to lick away a spot of blood as we parted.

"No need to thank me." I told him, hands resting on his waist. "You deserve to be loved...especially after everything."

He smiled, the former Izuki returning at long last as his eyes seemed brighter than before. "I-I guess."

"No, no guessing." I told him, playfully poking his cheek. "I'm saying you deserve to be treated like royalty."

The wonderful sound of him laughing filled the room. "Does that mean I get to be a royal pain in the ass?"

"I'll give you a pain in your ass if you're not careful."

 

* * *

 

**Alternate Beginning to Chapter 20 where Kagami and Kuroko wake Hyuuga up at 5am because they tried to prank Aomine and it went wrong - during their explanation Hyuuga gets a phone call from Imayoshi.**

 As if things couldn't get any worse, my phone started buzzing.

"What?" I replied into the receiver.

"Ahh Hyuuga." A slow voice replied, a voice I really didn't want to hear.

"What do _you_ want?"

"Just a quick word from one captain to another." I could hear the grin in his voice. The grin I really wanted to wipe from his face with my own fist.

"Get on with it, I'm dealing with something."

"Boyfriend or team-mates hm?"

I turned away from Kagami and Kuroko, debating whether to question how he found out or whether to just tell him to get to the point. It was hard enough to come to a decision without feeling a hand on my shoulder, Izuki was awake and giving me a half-asleep half-confused look.

"None of your business. Get to the point Shoichi." I hissed, watching Izuki's eyes widen as he put two and two together.

He laughed, a small sigh followed it as I heard him move about in what I assumed was his bed. "My my, someone's not a morning person. Anyway, why did I just get a very disgruntled call from my ace complaining about Kagami's behaviour?"

I turned back around to look at the two first years, Kagami seemed confused but also a little concerned for whatever conversation was taking place.

"I don't know, Kagami assures me he did nothing and I'm prepared to believe him over _you_."

There was another laugh. "Have I upset you Junpei?"

"It's five in the fucking morning!"

"You seem more riled up than usual...oh is Izuki there? I haven't spoken to him in a while."

A hand closed around mine and the phone was taken from me, Izuki pressed the button to put it on speaker before answering. "Yeah, what do you want?"

"Shun...it's been a while, how are you?"

I wanted Kagami and Kuroko out of the room before something was said about Izuki's troubled past but I couldn't get them out without suspicion rising.

"I'm doing well."

"I hear that you're dating your captain..." We could all hear the glee in his voice, there was also something else lacing his words but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"I am." Izuki murmured, catching my eye as he held the phone in a shaky grasp. "What's it to you?"

"Does he know about us?"

Kagami looked _very_ confused, I shot him a warning glance and put a finger to my lips as a sign that he really shouldn't interrupt. He nodded and put his hands up in defence as Izuki sighed.

"Yes he does."

"Everything?"

"Yes."

He chuckled. "You have more courage than I had thought. For someone who was petrified enough of what his team would say if they knew he was gay that he came to a rival captain."

"Well that was a year ago now...things change."

"I know, I still think about that afternoon though. How you looked...sounded...how _good_ you were."

Izuki grimaced, I was on the verge of taking the phone back and ending the call myself. Kagami was giving me a look that was half confusion and half concern.

"What's he talking about?" He mouthed at me. I gave him another warning glance.

"Great...well I had mostly forgotten about it." Izuki replied finally.

"That stings Shun, I seem to recall that you enjoyed it a lot."

I was done, I took the phone back and took it off speaker phone. "Listen here Shoichi." I uttered, walking into the bedroom and away from the others. "What happened between you and Shun is in the past. You have nothing to hold over him anymore - got it? So take your condescending tone and fuck off."

He laughed. "Junpei...you're certainly a character." He sighed. "I'll assume you had sex with him then given your outburst."

"It's none of your fucking business."

"You have. Well I guess there's nothing more to say, we'll meet again on the court I suppose. May the best team win."

The call went dead. I wanted to punch a wall, I wanted to make that bastard pay for all of this. The next match with Tōō was going to be an ugly one.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, onto the oneshots! I have no real idea how many there will be or how often they'll come out but I'll get to them asap.  
> Feel free to request any more using the comment section of this fic, I'll reply as soon as I can and let you know when I'll fulfil it!
> 
> PSA: The requests DO NOT have to be tied to this fic, they can be stand-alone but you MUST tell me if that is the case otherwise I will assume they take place after this fic. Also they can be for other pairings (I'll address all of this again in the first instalment of the series) but yeah, I like challenges so if you have a rare pairing or something that's rarely written about then feel free to request - the more specific the better - and I'll see what I can come up with.   
> (Side note: The only thing I will NOT write about in detail is sexual abuse or rape. I can refer to it if it's backstory or something like that but I will NOT write it in detail.)
> 
> Again - thank you so much for reading, it means a lot to me.
> 
> \- Bryn


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